HC Deb 06 June 1946 vol 423 c2152
37. Dr. Stephen Taylor

asked the Minister of Health why the infantile mortality rate of Bath rose from 28 in 1938 to 53 in 1944, while the national rate fell from 53 to 46 over the same period.

Mr. Key

Within such a small number of cases․74 infantile deaths in Bath in 1944․annual variations are not very significant. Between 1938 and 1944 the Bath rate exceeded the national rate only twice, and both rates were fluctuating.

Mr. I J. Pitman

Is the Minister aware that the latest figures are as low as 2 and that the figures before the war were 42 in the five years in which the figure of 28 is quoted, and 43 in the other five years?

Mr. Key

Those figures confirm the statement I have made.