HC Deb 23 May 1980 vol 985 cc462-3W
Mr. Alfred Morris

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what arrangements he is making to ensure that national figures are available on the numbers of births of handicapped babies, with particular reference to babies damaged by maternal rubella, spina bifida and Down's syndrome.

Dr. Vaughan

Cases of congenital rubella are voluntarily reported to the national surveillance programme and re ports are published from time to time in Health Trends and The Lancet. National figures of the numbers of births of babies with spina bifida and Down's syndrome are issued from time to time in the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys monitor series, reference MB3: the figures are derived from a voluntary system of notifying congenital malformations observed at birth or up to seven days after birth.