The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated October 2008:"As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question about how many home births there were a) in total and b) as a percentage of all births, in each region of England in each year since 1997. (225888)""The latest year for which figures on home births are available is 2006. The attached tables show a) the number of women who gave birth at home in each Government Office Region of England in the years 1997-2006 and b) the number of women who gave birth at home as a percentage of all births in each region, 1997-2006." Number of women giving birth at home¹ by Government Office Region in England, 1997 to 2006 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 North East 336 303 261 252 289 276 280 328 324 394 North West 1,162 1,039 1,010 919 866 937 1,083 1,244 1,452 1,611 Yorkshire and the Humber 893 949 894 985 845 877 952 1,019 1,102 1,266 East Midlands 856 883 891 860 815 914 997 1,082 1,276 1,495 West Midlands 1,033 949 895 836 860 807 978 979 1,146 1,207 East 1,800 1,763 1,737 1,643 1,607 1,837 1,864 2,051 2,316 2,520 London 2,585 2,400 2,262 2,199 2,060 2,004 2,008 2,037 2,369 2,664 South East 2,899 2,805 2,731 2,584 2,464 2,569 2,667 2,835 3,220 3,530 South West 2,057 2,013 1,880 1,830 1,737 1,834 1,917 1,950 2,130 2,236 England 13,621 13,104 12,561 12,108 11,543 12,055 12,746 13,525 15,335 16,923 ¹. The figures provided show the number of women who. gave birth at home, i.e. home maternities, rather than the number of babies born at home. Number of women giving birth at home¹ as a percentage of all maternities in each Government Office Region, 1997 to 2006 Percentage 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 North East 1.2 1.1 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.4 North West 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.8 1.9 Yorkshire and the Humber 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.8 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.8 2.0 East Midlands 1.8 1.8 1.9 1.9 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.3 2.6 3.0 West Midlands 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.5 1.5 1.8 1.8 East 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.7 3.1 3.0 3.2 3.6 3.8 London 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.8 2.1 2.2 South East 3.1 3.0 2.9 2.9 2.8 3.0 2.9 3.1 3.5 3.6 South West 3.8 3.8 3.6 3.7 3.6 3.8 3.8 3.8 4.1 4.1 England 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.5 2.7 ¹ The figures provided show the percentage of women who gave birth at home as a percentage of all women who gave birth, i.e. percentage of home maternity rather than the percentage of babies born at home.