§ Mr. Ernie Rossasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he can provide an estimate of the number of mothers who smoke (a) at the time of confirmation of pregnancy and (b) during pregnancy.
§ Mr. Fairgrieve:A survey of over 20,000 women aged 14–44 in various health board areas throughout Scotland was conducted over a period of five years using self-completion questionnaires in the course of a smoking in pregnancy programme under the auspices of the Scottish health education group. This indicated that the percentages of the mothers covered by the survey smoking before and during pregnancy were as follows:
Before pregnancy During pregnancy 1974–75 47.7 41.1 1975–76 47.0 37.4 1976–77 44.5 34.5 1977–78 45.1 36.6 1978–79 47.0 39.3 The survey also showed that the mothers who continued to smoke during pregnancy smoked fewer cigarettes.