§ Mr. Robert BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the number of fatal births which can be attributed to(a) late births and (b) questionable handling and treatment of the mother.
§ Mr. FreemanThe number of stillbirths by gestation week for England and Wales, 1988 is shown in the table. Information regarding the treatment of the mother in these cases is not available centrally.
Gestation week Number of stillbirths 28 204 29 196 30 227 31 178 32 232 33 145 34 205
Country 1978 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 Austria1 15.0 11.9 11.4 411.0 10.3 9.8 — Belgium2 13.3 10.6 10.7 9.4 49.7 49.7 — Denmark2 8.8 7.7 7.7 7.9 8.2 8.3 — Finland1 7.7 6.2 6.5 6.3 5.9 n/a — France2 10.7 9.1 8.3 8.3 8.0 7.8 — Germany Federal Republic2 14.7 10.2 9.6 9.0 8.7 8.3 — Greece2 19.3 14.6 14.3 14.1 12.2 411.7 — Ireland2 14.9 10.1 9.6 8.9 48.7 47.4 — Italy2 17.1 12.3 411.3 410.3 49.8 49.6 — Luxembourg2 10.6 11.2 11.7 9.0 7.9 9.4 — Netherlands2 9.6 8.4 8.3 8.0 7.7 7.6 — Norway1 8.6 7.9 8.3 8.5 7.9 n/a — Portugal2 29.1 19.2 16.7 17.8 15.8 14.2 — Spain2 15.3 7.3 9.9 48.5 48.8 n/a — Sweden1 7.8 7.2 6.4 46.7 45.9 n/a — Switzerland1 8.6 7.5 7.1 6.9 6.8 6.8 — United Kingdom3 13.3 10.2 9.6 9.4 9.5 9.1 9.0 England and Wales3 13.2 10.1 9.5 9.4 9.6 9.2 9.0 Rates provided are as published in:— 1 World Health Organistion "World Health Statistics Annual", 2 The Statistical Office of the European Community "Eurostat Demographic Statistics". 3 Population Trends OPCS. 4 Provisional. Infant mortality—Deaths under one year per 1,000 livebirths.