HC Deb 11 November 1980 vol 992 cc178-9
11. Mr. Hooley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he plans to take in 1981 to improve antenatal care and reduce perinatal mortality.

Mr. Patrick Jenkin

I ask the hon. Member to await the reply to the recent report of the Social Services Committee on perinatal and neonatal mortality which the Government will present to Parliament shortly.

Mr. Hooley

Is the Secretary of State aware that the distinguished committee under Professor Black calculated that a great deal could be done to improve the welfare of mothers and babies, particularly in the deprived areas of this country, by an expenditure of £30 million? Will he stop putting about the notion that the Black committee requires an expenditure of £2,000 million in order to do anything effective?

Mr. Jenkin

I quote the figure of £2,000 million from the Black committee I am quoting figures for precisely costed measures which it recommended should be introduced, including a whole range of new social security benefits.

With regard to perinatal and neonatal mortality, we can take some comfort from the substantial improvements that have taken place over recent years. As recently as 1963, the perinatal mortality rate was as high as 29.1 per thousand. Our estimate for 1979—this is a provisional figure—is 14.6 per thousand. That is a reduction of more than half in that period. I think that that is solid progress. What we need to do now is to build on it and to have sustained pressure for further improvement.

Mr. Robert C. Brown

Is the Secretary of State aware that he does not need to wait for any reports to know that in the Northern region the infant mortality rate is 5 per cent. above the national average, that the perinatal mortality rate is 13 per cent. above the national average, and that the male mortality rate is 10 per cent. above the national average? Does he think that it would be reasonable to take these figures into consideration when he considers his allocation of resources for the NHS next year?

Mr. Jenkin

These figures are built into the resource allocation formula, on the basis of which money is now distributed differentially to the different parts of the country. A region such as the Northern region had twice as much growth of resouces this year than regions such as the Thames regions, which are better provided for. I hope that we shall be able to maintain this progress, and that where we have greater growth in the future we shall be able to intensify the reallocation process.