asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he is taking to reduce the rates of perinatal and infant mortality in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.
I would refer my hon. Friend to my statement in reply to his Questions on 12th June, and in particular to what I said then about the action already being taken by my Department in the context of this year's planning guidelines to health authorities and of the regional strategic plans which are due to be submitted in January 1979. In the context of these established planning processes, I would refer my hon. Friend also to my reply to the debate on the motion to take note of the Expenditure Committee's Report on Preventive Medicine on 12th June, in which I promised the House that when the statistics of perinatal and infant mortality for 1977 were available I would ensure that those area health authorties whose figures were worse than the national average were approached and asked to state what they intended to do to combat the problem.—[Vol. 951, c. 322–25; c. 780–92.]