§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the population using the national health service are(a) female and (b) members of an ethnic minority.
§ Mr. SackvilleOf all in-patient episodes recorded in England for 1989–90, the latest year for which information is available, 57.6 per cent. of cases were recorded as female. Of episodes with a diagnostic code other than complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium, 52.1 per cent. of cases were recorded.
Information is not collected centrally on patients' ethnic group, although we are currently consulting on the principle of doing so in respect of in-patients.