§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of children in each district health authority in Kent, in each of the last 10 years, has been born with physical and mental handicaps.
§ Mrs. CurrieI regret that the exact information requested is not available centrally. However, the hon. Member may be interested in the table, which shows readily available information from the registration of live and still births, and from the notification of congenital malformations. These notifications are based on a voluntary system of reporting malformations noticed at birth, or within seven days of birth, and may therefore exclude certain anomalies.
Number of total live and still births, and number of notifications of congenital malformations to mothers resident in District Health Authorities (DHA) in Kent 1983 to 1986 Area of usual residence DHA 1983 1984 1985 1986 Total live and stillbirths South East Kent 2,981 2,968 3,190 3,319 Canterbury and Thanet 3,235 3,225 3,390 3,555 Dartford and Gravesham 2,810 2,839 3,037 3,013
Infant mortality rate1 for health areas in Kent 1977–1986 Year Area of usual residence 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 South East Kent 8.8 12.5 15.3 10.3 10.4 11.4 7.8 9.5 8.5 8.2 Canterbury and Thanet 13.7 13.5 10.6 9.9 10.1 12.7 10.9 11.5 9.2 8.2 Dartford and Gravesham 10.2 13.0 9.6 13.6 10.2 10.3 25.7 7.8 10.0 8.7 Maidstone 11.0 11.4 12.1 11.5 11.5 27.5 10.5 27.6 8.8 11.1 Medway 12.6 13.1 12.8 11.5 13.5 9.3 13.0 8.7 8.8 7.9 Tunbridge Wells 10.6 9.9 8.8 14.2 12.9 29.3 26.6 28.4 28.2 26.0 1 Deaths under one year per 1,000 live births. Figures for 1977.80 are for health districts, rather than district health authorities. 2 Rates calculated from less than 20 events which may affect their reliability.