A PRESSURE group has accused Swindon Council of promoting underage pregnancy.

The London-based Family Education Trust, part of the Family and Youth Concern umbrella group, has examined the strategies of 23 towns and cities across the country in preventing underage pregnancies.

One of them was Swindon, where the council and the Swindon Primary Care Trust are among the major partners in an education and prevention campaign, as part of a national Government policy.

But the pressure group says too much education encourages experimentation and promiscuity, often leading to pregnancy.

The Family Education Trust believes less emphasis should be placed on sex education and more on abstinence from sex outside marriage.

Director Robert Whelan said: "The disappointing thing is the lack of originality in these strategies. Taking their cue from the Government's Teenage Pregnancy Unit, they attribute our high teenage pregnancy rate to an ignorance of the facts of life, and the inability of young people to obtain contraception, or a lack of awareness of why and how it should be used.

"Preventing teenage pregnancies is therefore seen as a matter of earlier and more explicit sex education, and the easier availability of contraception, including the use of school clinics to distribute this."

He went on to accuse Swindon and other towns of "facilitating the adventures of juvenile Lotharios and their Lolitas".

In 1998, there were 58.1 pregnancies per thousand in Swindon girls under 18, one of the highest rates in Europe.

But Fran Birch, Swindon's teenage pregnancy co-ordinator, says this figure is now down to 50 per thousand.

She attributes the fall to policies such as educating girls about the dangers and pitfalls of early pregnancy and offering advice about contraception and the benefits of avoiding early sex altogether.

Refuting the pressure group's claims, she said: "Our strategy in no way encourages young people to be promiscuous. We strongly refute that idea.

"Indeed, the guidance on sex and relationship clearly states that evidence shows that such education does not encourage early experimentation. Instead, it encourages young people to mature, build up confidence and self-esteem, and understand the reasons for delaying sexual activity."