FREE contraceptives could be handed out to pupils in North Yorkshire's secondary schools under new government plans.

The proposal is part of a new Department of Health (DoH) strategy to further reduce the rate of teenage pregnancies.

According to the DoH, 5.9 out of every 1,000 13 to 15-year-old girls in the county fell pregnant in 2000, the latest period for which figures are available.

The "conception rate" was down from 6.3 in 1999 and 6.0 in 1998. It is also below the national average of 8.3.

But health ministers are determined to make greater progress and have gone further than ever before in attempting to tackle the problem.

Most controversially, nurses or doctors will attend schools to supervise the distribution of free contraceptives.

The Department of Education and Skills, which will issue guidelines in September, has stressed it will be left to individual schools to decide whether to offer the service.

But the move is still certain to enrage family rights campaigners.

Other measures include further action to improve sex education in schools, encouraging parents to talk to their children openly about sex and relationships and improving young people's access to trusted, confidential sources of advice about relationships, sex and contraception.

Health Minister Hazel Blears said: "Children born to teenage mothers are at high risk of growing up in poverty and experiencing poor health.

"We have made good progress so far in tackling teenage pregnancy rates and improving the quality of life of those teenagers who do become parents, but much remains to be done."

Pupils already receive sex education at school - although a report from school inspectors in April said this was failing to teach pupils enough about the dangers of sexually-transmitted diseases.

It also said schools needed to broaden sex education beyond factual knowledge to give greater emphasis to relationships, values and personal skills.

Updated: 12:29 Friday, June 28, 2002