HC Deb 22 July 1980 vol 989 cc210-1W
Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether there has been any English study of drug taking during pregnancy; and what is his estimate of the percentage of English women who take drugs during pregnancy.

Sir George Young

I shall let the right hon. Gentleman have a reply as soon as possible.

Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the data supplied by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys on congenital abnormalities includes information on the talking of medical drugs by pregnant women.

Sir George Young

The data collected routinely in the congenital malformation notification system or in the statutory registration of births contain no information about the consumption of medical drugs by pregnant women.

The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys collaborates with the medicines division of the Department of Health and Social Security in a retrospective case control study into the drugs prescribed by doctors during pregnancy of mothers of malformed babies and for mothers of normal babies.