§ 3.48 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY (BARONESS SEROTA)My Lords, with the permission of the House and in view of public concern over the proper working of the Abortion Act 1967, I wish to make a Statement incorporating certain information which is being given by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Social Services at Question Time in another place this afternoon.
When the Act came into force on April 27 last year all private nursing homes in England and Wales used for the termination of pregnancies had to be approved by the then Minister of Health. In all, 59 homes were so approved for a period expiring on April 26 this year, which is just two days ago. This approval needed to be renewed if they were to continue to be used for the termination of pregnancy after that date; and 55 of the 59 have sought such re-approval from my Department. Of these 55, 47 have been approved for a further year; seven have received re-approval for two months only; and approval has been withheld from one pending further inquiries.
Your Lordships will wish to know the reasons for the limited periods of re-approval in the cases I have mentioned. The seven homes which have only received a two-month approval are all in the North-West Metropolitan area, and 665 the common factor between them is the high number of terminations performed there. Together they account for 90 per cent. of all terminations notified from private nursing homes in the whole of England and Wales during the first quarter of this year. Inspection by professional officers of the Department has revealed certain apparent deficiencies in the facilities in these homes, having regard to the large volume of work they perform. My right honourable friend is therefore using such powers as are available to him under the Act to safeguard the health and safety of women operated on in them. It: is for this reason that he has given only a short term re-approval to these seven homes and is also arranging for their re-inspection by his professional officers before giving any longer-term approval.
To complete the picture I should also add that five homes not previously approved have also applied for approval, and the necessary inquiries are in progress.
§ BARONESS BROOKE OF YSTRAD-FELLTEMy Lords, while thanking the Minister for making this Statement, and welcoming any efforts that her Department may make to ensure the safety of women entering these private nursing homes to have their pregnancy terminated, may I ask whether I am to understand that 7 out of the 59 approved private nursing homes accounted for no less than nine-tenths of all the abortions in these places during the first quarter of this year? I am sure the Secretary of State is right in making detailed investigations of these 7 homes, but do the Government agree that it will be only fair to them to reach a further decision well before the end of the two months?
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I, too, should like to thank the Minister for the Statement she has made, and to say how pleased I am to see what care is being taken by her Department that the homes which they approve will be as satisfactory as it is possible for them to be. I therefore welcome the decision that for certain homes which it is thought may not be quite up to standard the approval will be given only for two months, so that the people responsible may have a 666 chance to improve them in that time. I think this is a very satisfactory slate of affairs.
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, may I also thank the noble Baroness for making the Statement, and I apologise for having missed the early part of it. May I ask her whether, where nursing homes are known to have made grossly extortionate charges for the carrying out of the nursing part of these operations, any attempt is likely to be made by her Department to control these charges?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, may I thank the House for the way in which it has received this Statement to-day. The answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Brooke of Ystradfellte, is "Yes", and that is why we are taking such particular care in these inquiries. I can assure her, and the House, that the officers of my Department will make their inquiries as quickly and as soon as possible, so that we can come to a firm conclusion. With regard to the point just raised by my noble friend Lord Segal about charges, if I recall correctly he made this particular point in a previous question on this subject, on March 25. I pointed out on that occasion that we had no power to control fees charged in private homes, or to lay down rules for the conduct of private homes. But we can (indeed, this is the object of our exercise at the moment) ensure the adequacy of the premises, equipment and staffing of private homes, and to this extent safeguard the health and safety of the women using them.
EARL FERRERSMy Lords, is it possible for the noble Baroness to say how many abortions were carried out by these homes, either individually or collectively? Can she say whether they carried out other operations as well, or are they used solely for the purposes of abortion?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, yes, I can give the noble Earl the figures for the first quarter of this year, 1969. In the seven nursing homes some 4,522 abortions were carried out. I cannot give him the other information for which he has asked, about their other work. If he wished for a breakdown of the figures for the individual seven nursing homes, I could let him have those figures.