HC Deb 03 November 1989 vol 159 cc389-91W
Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State of State for Health what is the percentage of single mothers aged 16 to 19 years, by country. in England and Wales.

Mr. Freeman

The numbers of families consisting of a single mother with one or more children in each country are not known However, the country percentage of all births outside marriage in 1998 which were as follows:

Area per cent.
England and Wales 24.5
England 24.2
Standard regions and counties
North 30.2
Tyne and Wear 29.2
Cleveland 31.0
Cumbria 29.9
Durham 30.9
Northumberland 32.5
Yorkshire and Humberside 28.5
South Yorkshire 27.5
West Yorkshire 29.5
Humberside 29.0
North Yorkshire 25.6
East Midlands 25.8
Derbyshire 26.7
Leicestershire 24.9
Lincolnshire 28.1

"true" maternal deaths—resulting from complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium; or "associated" maternal deaths—due to other causes when the deceased woman was know to be pregnant, or had been pregnant within one year.

From 1973 maternal deaths have been sub-classified as "direct"—resulting from obstetric complications of pregnancy, labour and childbirth; "indirect"—resulting from previous existing disease or a disease which developed during pregnancy and which was aggravated by pregnancy; or "fortuitous"—resulting from causes not related to or influenced by pregnancy.

The request for information about "deaths from pregnancy-related diseases" has been interpreted as a request for information on "associated maternal deaths" up to 1972 and to "indirect deaths" thereafter.

Area per cent.
Northamptonshire 23.6
Nottinghamshire 25.9
East Anglia 24.9
Cambridgeshire 24.1
Norfolk 24.9
Suffolk 25.6
South East 19.0
Greater London 15.9
Inner London 14.1
Outer London 17.8
Bedfordshire 21.5
Berkshire 21.8
Buckinghamshire 22.0
East Sussex 18.4
Essex 21.7
Hampshire 24.5
Hertfordshire 23.2
Isle of Wight 26.7
Kent 23.3
Oxfordshire 21.4
Surrey 19.4
West Sussex 22.1
South West 24.3
Avon 22.9
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 25.7
Devon 25.1
Dorset 23.4
Gloucestershire 23.1
Somerset 26.4
Wiltshire 25.4
West Midlands 26.0

Area per cent.
West Midlands 24.6
Hereford and Worcester 26.2
Shropshire 25.6
Staffordshire 30.3
Warwickshire 27.7
North West 27.1
Greater Manchester 27.7
Merseyside 24.6
Cheshire 28.9
Lancashire 28.2
Wales 29.5
Clwyd 26.2
Dyfed 28.1
Gwent 31.9
Gwynedd 23.9
Mid Glamorgan 35.1
Powys 24.9
South Glamorgan 27.0
West Glamorgan 27.8