§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Scotland, what are the latest available neonatal, perinatal and infant mortality rates for Scotland, Tayside, and Dundee; and if he will provide a breakdown per socio-economic group in each case.
§ Mr. John MacKayInfant mortality statistics are compiled by social class, not by more detailed socio-economic groups. The figures for 1981 are given in the following table. The number of deaths in Tayside and Dundee are too small for meaningful rates to be calculated, but the numbers of deaths are shown.
Provisional neonatal, perinatal and infant mortality rates for the first three quarters of 1982 have been published in various issues of the weekly return of the Registrar General for Scotland, copies of which are in the Library. These quarterly statistics are not disaggregated by social class.
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Perinatal deaths* Neonatal deaths† Infant deaths† Area and Social Class Leg. Illeg. Leg. Illeg. Leg. Illeg. III(M) 11.5 13.6 6.4 4.9 10.1 7.9 IV 12.7 13.5 8.1 5.0 13.6 6.0 V 11.7 25.2 7.0 19.2 12.3 22.4 N.S. — — — — — — All social classes 10.9 16.9 6.5 9.7 10.6 16.0 Tayside Region—numbers I 3 — 3 — 4 — II 8 — 3 — 5 — III(NM) — — 1 — 2 — III(M) 14 — 8 — 11 — IV 8 1 7 1 10 2 V 5 — 2 — 5 — N.S. — 2 — 4 — 7 All Social Classes 38 3 24 5 37 9 Dundee local government district—numbers I 2 — 2 — 3 — II 4 — 1 — 2 — III(NM) — — 1 — 1 — III(M) 7 — 4 — 5 — IV 2 — — 1 1 1 V 3 — 1 — 2 — N.S. — 2 — 3 — 6 All social classes 18 2 9 4 14 7 * Rate worked per 1,000 live and stillbirths. † Rate worked per 1,000 live births. Note:
(1) Where rate is based on fewer than 4 events it has been surpressed.
(2) Since the social class of illegitimate children is derived from the mother's occupation, whereas that for legitimate children is derived from the father's occupation, the 2 categories are shown separately.
§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what evidence he has that infant mortality rates amongst unemployed families are greater than amongst employed families.
§ Mr. John MacKayNone. There has, however, been a notable decline in the infant mortality rate generally in Scotland in recent years.