§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many sets of(a) twins, (b) triplets, (c) quadruplets, (d) quintuplets and (e) sextuplets were born in Scotland in each year since 1990; how many maternities there were in each year; and how many multiple births in each category were conceived as a result of (i) in vitro fertilisation, (ii) gamete intra-fallopian transfer and (iii) other forms of assisted conception. [39971]
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe information is as follows:
Type of birth 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Twins: 2 live 711 682 790 751 762 780 1 live, 1 stillbirth 15 22 11 25 13 31 2 stillbirth 5 5 6 4 3 5 Triplets: 3 live 14 18 15 10 16 27 2 live, 1 stillbirth 2 4 — — — 1 1 live, 2 stillbirth — 2 — — — 1 Quadruplets: 4 live 1 1 — — — 1 3 live, 1 stillbirth — 1 — — 1 — Quintuplets: Sextuplets — — — — — — Number of maternities 65,556 66,630 65,307 62,946 61,224 59,271 Information on the number of multiple births in Scotland attributed to assisted conception is not available. Some information on these matters is published in the annual reports of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, copies of which are available in the Library.