§ Mrs. Bainasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many babies have died from hypocalcaemia or hypernatraemia in each five-year period since the war; and in how many cases the feeding to these infants of national dried milk was either a direct or contributory factor.
§ Mr. MeacherI regret that the information is not available. The national mortality statistics are made up from information in certificates of cause of death completed by doctors. In deaths involving hypocalcaemia or hypernatraemia the death certificate would not necessarily mention these conditions. Even where a death certificate indicated that either of these conditions was the underlying cause of death they are not separately identified in the international classification of diseases and deaths which is used in compiling the national mortality statistics.