asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, pursuant to his answer to the hon.

Legal abortions by age: Irish Republic residents, 1970–1980
Year	All ages	Under 16	16–19	20–24	25–29	30–34	35–39	40–44	45 and over	not stated
1970	261	—	28	112	52	35	23	3	—	8
1971	578	5	63	254	143	49	39	12	2	11
1972	974	6	128	382	251	110	53	29	3	12
1973	1,193	6	171	514	277	114	65	29	3	14
1974	1,421	5	200	638	311	141	74	29	5	18
1975	1,573	4	227	677	347	158	72	43	4	41
1976	1,821	8	235	780	432	184	106	38	1	37
1977	2,184	6	310	905	493	252	124	59	8	27

This information is not collected centrally, and the most recent figures are derived from a special survey undertaken in March 1980. The position in the 4 Thames regions was then as follows:

Region	No. of i/c cots	No. of live births (1981)	i/c cots per 1,00 live births
North-East Thames	11	40,035	0·22
South-East Thames	16	44,485	0·35
South-West Thames	12	34,498	0·35
North-West Thames	21	46,383	0·45
4 Thames regions	60	175,401	0·34

Special inquiries were made of the Northern RHA for the purpose of answering the hon. Member's question on 8 December 1982 but regrettably I am now advised that the figure given of 8 intensive care cots in the Northern region was incorrect. There are currently 6 cots, as against 4 in January 1979 and 5 in March 1980. This represents a level of approximately 0·5 cots per 1,000 live births in 1981.