asked the Secretary of State for Scotland how many births there were in Scotland in 1977, 1978, 1979; and what are his projections for 1980 and future years.

There were 62,342 births in Scotland in 1977, 64,295 in 1978 and 68,145 in 1979. The 1978-based projections of the population of Scotland published in the Registrar-General's quarterly return for the March quarter 1979 provide estimates of future births based on information available at the time the projections were made.