§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
In view of the low rates of breastfeeding of infants in the United Kingdom, how they will follow up the European Community initiative launched in May; and how they will support the UNICEF's "Baby Friendly Initiative". [HL2438]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Baroness Jay of Paddington)At the invitation of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), my honourable friend the Minister of State for Public Health launched the United Kingdom Baby Friendly Initiative's (UKBFI) new community initiative to mark the start of National Breastfeeding Awareness Week, which ran from 17–23 May this year. This initiative centres around a seven-point plan which aims to protect, promote and support breastfeeding in community health care settings and will complement the UKBFI hospital initiative. The Department of Health continues to maintain close links with UNICEF and enjoys observer status on the UKBFI Steering Committee.
17WAThe Government are fully committed to the promotion of breastfeeding, which is universally accepted as the best form of nutrition for infants. The Government's expenditure on the promotion of breastfeeding shown in the table is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much we invest in breastfeeding. I regret that in my reply of 1 June (col. WA 2) to Lord Avebury giving this information, the figures which I gave for the years 1996–97, 1997–98 and 1998–99 were inaccurate. The correct information is shown in the table and comprises publicity expenditure on promoting breastfeeding and grants awarded under Section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 to voluntary organisations concerned with promoting breastfeeding. It does not include the incidental expenditure of those attending meetings to discuss the promotion of breastfeeding. We are currently discussing the pattern of publicity expenditure for 1998–99, which includes an element for the promotion of breastfeeding. The 1998–99 figures shown in the table, therefore, relate to those budgets which have been finalised.
Year Expenditure 1992–93 £99,8001 1993–94 £123,200 1994–95 £158,300 1995–96 £151,700 1996–97 £329,700 1997–98 £180,6002 1998–99 £79,9003 1 Figures for Scotland not available. 2 Estimated Outturn. 3 Finalised budgets only. We are concerned about the apparently low breastfeeding rates in this country. The low incidence of breastfeeding is especially marked in low income groups. That is why, when my honourable friend the Minister for Public Health launched the UKBFI Community Initiative, she also announced the research we are planning to fund from the department's research initiative on health inequalities aimed at identifying the barriers to breastfeeding in low income groups. This should help us to understand what influences a woman's decision whether to breastfeed or not. In turn, this will help us to develop and test new interventions aimed at increasing breastfeeding levels and improving the health of babies from low income families.