asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many working mothers have been granted maternity pay during each 12-month period since the commencement of the maternity pay system; how many and what percentage of such mothers declared their intention to return to work after childbirth; and how many and what percentage of working mothers actually did return to work after pregnancy or childbirth in each of the above periods.

The numbers of women who have received maternity pay and in respect of whom rebate has been paid to the employer by my Department are as follows:

April 1977-March 1978	67,366
April 1978-March 1979	107,953
April 1979-September 1979	55,139

No figures are available for the number of women who have declared their intention to return to work after childbirth or for the number of women who actually returned to work after pregnancy or childbirth.