IT is evident that the many efforts to reduce teenage pregnancy in East Lancashire-- ranging from free contraceptives and sex counselling -- have been of little avail when the rate remains among the highest in the country.

So what of the latest initiative to deal with the problem of single young mums -- that of giving them £5,000 grants to go back to school?

I can, of course, see the high-minded aim of the government-led strategy that Blackburn with Darwen Council and primary care health chiefs are implementing -- that of getting them educated and qualified so that they might become self-reliant wage-earning workers, not hopeless permanent benefit claimants.

And while many may consider it is primarily the responsibility of these girls and their families, rather than the taxpayers', to provide childcare should they wish to resume their education, there is another aspect to this scheme that troubles me.

That of it being the very opposite of a deterrent to teenage pregnancy.

Indeed, if the advocates of this scheme are looking for a slogan to ensure enduring uptake of it here in East Lancashire, I am sure they could do worse than: "Get pregnant and win £5,000."

Still, it's only public money.