HC Deb 24 October 1985 vol 84 cc231-2W
Mr. Canavan

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will publish statistics showing the number of miscarriages and terminations of pregnancies in the Stirling and Falkirk areas for the years 1982 to 1984, inclusive, analysed by mothers' place of residence, and a comparison with the numbers for previous years and an indication of the reasons for any variation from the expected normal annual number of such cases.

Mr. John MacKay

Information for Forth Valley health board's area in 1982–84 is as follows:

Year Miscarriages Terminations
1982 361 387
1983 320 392
1984 * 433
* Not yet available.

Details of terminations for other years may be obtained from the annual publication "Scottish Health Statistics" published by HMSO. Any information about numbers of miscarriages in previous years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Figures for terminations in the board's area in 1982–84 are generally in line with the national trend. Comparable information about miscarriages is not available.

Mr. Canavan

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will publish statistics, analysed by categories of medical defects and by place of residence of the mother, for the number of malformed and stillborn births in the Falkirk and Stirling areas for 1974 to 1984, inclusive, together with a comparison with the numbers for previous years and an indication, of the reasons for any variation from the expected normal annual number of such cases.

Mr. John MacKay

Information about stillbirths in Forth Valley health board's area is as follows:

Total still births Still births with congenital anomalies
1974 49 17
1975 41 14
1976 33 12
1977 19 10
1978 19 5
1979 26 4
1980 22 2
1981 26 2
1982 23 5
1983 22 1
1984 17 1

Details of categories of medical defects and by place of residence of the mother are not available. Comparable figures for years prior to 1974 cannot be provided on the same geographical basis.

Any information about the number of malformed live births in the area could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.