Advising on what do with a cheating husband to the pros and cons of cosmetic surgery, their columns are often the first thing voyeuristic readers flick to, hoping to be entertained by someone else's woes.

However, if the results of a scheme to cut the rates of teenage pregnancy are to be believed, the humble agony aunt could soon be dispensing much more than commonsense to people who really should know better.

Twelve months ago, Lincolnshire County Council spent £12,000 setting up an initiative which allowed youngsters to send text messages asking for advice. A year on, more than 1,000 teenagers have used the service, requesting help on everything from losing their virginity to contraception and homosexuality.

While some have dubbed the service "sex text for teens", a headline which is unlikely to win over parents, those behind the scheme, which has now been sold on to other local authorities, say it has contributed to the 31 per cent drop in teenage pregnancy rates between 1998 and 2005.

"Over the last few years we have really been committed to reducing the number of teenage pregnancies and the text service has been incredibly successful," said Coun Christine Talbot. "There are families where these issues are talked about openly, but there are a large number of parents who don't feel comfortable about talking about sex and a large number of children who don't feel able to discuss these very personal issues. I'm 56 years old and my own mother found it extremely difficult, she used to refer to the birds and the bees, but let's face it that doesn't have much bearing on real life. There are many people like her and it's not a criticism, but we do need to find ways to reach these young people.

"We live in a world of technology and if teenagers feel comfortable about communicating their problems through text messaging it's something we should capitalise on."

The texts are answered by experts based at a Glasgow call centre and with teenage pregnancy rates in the UK the highest in western Europe, the hope is the scheme will eventually be rolled out nationwide.

A recent study by the Institute for Public Policy Research showed British teenagers were the most sexually active in Europe, with one in three 15-year-olds admitting they do not use condoms and the research prompted calls for an overhaul of sex education teaching in schools.

"Over the last 50 years, the average age of first sexual intercourse has fallen from 20 for men and 21 for women in the 1950s to just 16 years old by the mid-1990s," said Julia Margo, senior research fellow at IPPR. "Over the same period, the proportion of young people who are sexually active before the age of consent has also risen from less than one per cent to 25 per cent. Our education system must respond in kind and start teaching children about the risks involved in sex before they even consider taking those risks."

Everything from child poverty to low employment expectations have been blamed for the rise, but the Brook organisation, which provides sexual health advice to young people, says that despite living in an apparently promiscuous society, it's our inability to talk openly about the issues that has contributed to the current problem. "We've got to normalise the issues," said a spokesman. "Sex is around, but no one is talking to young people about it. We are setting them adrift in a sexualised society without giving them the tools to look after themselves.

"The Government has promised more sex education training but schools are only required to teach the mechanics. Research show comprehensive education which starts before sexual activity begins does not make young people more likely to have sex and when they do they are more likely to use contraception.

"Young people often say the sex education they receive is too little, too late and too biological and we are really need to start listening to what they have to say."