§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish figures for cot deaths in each of the health regions of the United Kingdom both in totals and subdivided as to the socio-economic class of the parents; and what percentage were the infants of single parents in each case.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe available information for the health regions of England and Wales and Scotland is
Cot deaths by region and social class England and Wales 1979 Region Total* Legitimate (†) Illegitimate (‡) Total* I II III III IV V Number Per cent. Non. Manual of all manual deaths Northern 68 53 3 3 1 30 5 9 15 22.1 Yorkshire 69 53 2 10 2 17 9 10 16 23.2 Trent 77 59 1 4 3 26 14 7 18 23.4 East Anglian 54 48 1 9 7 17 9 3 6 11.1 North-West Thames 89 75 9 16 3 23 16 5 14 15.7 North-East Thames 75 56 4 12 5 16 8 5 19 25.3 South-East Thames 52 42 2 9 3 14 8 5 10 19.2 South-West Thames 35 29 5 8 1 9 6 0 6 17.1 Wessex 90 74 2 12 5 23 10 4 16 17.8 Oxford 77 66 3 5 2 26 13 9 11 14.3 South Western 96 79 5 11 6 25 12 12 17 17.7 West Midlands 119 99 9 11 3 37 25 9 20 16.8 Mersey 22 17 0 3 2 7 3 2 5 22.7 North Western 102 74 4 16 2 26 16 7 28 27.5 Wales 54 43 0 6 3 13 7 9 11 20.4 England and Wales 1,079 867 50 135 48 309 161 96 212 19.6 * The totals include residual social class groups in inadequately described occupations.
(‡) The father's occupation as recorded on the child's death certificate has been used to obtain the social class of the child.
(‡) Information similar to that in (‡) above is not available for all deaths of illegitimate infants.
Cot Deaths by Social Class* and Regional and Health Board Area, Scotland 1979 Total I II III Non-Manual III Manual IV V Not slated Highland 9 — — 2 3 1 1 2 Orkney — — — — — — — — Shetland 1 — — — — 1 — — Western Isles 1 — — 1 — — — — Grampian 11 — 2 — 6 1 2 — Tayside 9 — 1 1 3 — 2 2 Fife 15 1 — 3 10 1 — — Lothian 19 1 4 3 5 — — 6 Borders 8 — 2 1 3 2 — — Central 5 — — — 3 — — 2 Argyll and Clyde 10 — 2 — 1 4 — 3 Great Glasgow 34 1 2 3 10 4 8 6 Lanarkshire 8 — 1 — 2 — 4 1 Ayrshire and Arran 10 2 1 — 3 1 2 1 Dumfries and Galloway 7 — — 2 2 2 1 — Scotland 147 5 15 16 51 17 20 23 * Social class is assigned according to the father's occupation for deaths of legitimate infants and according to the mother's occupation, if stated, for deaths of illegitimate infants. Separate figures for cot deaths of illegitimate infants are not readily available.