Birth Statistics

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will give for England and Wales for 1988, for births within marriage and jointly registered births outside marriage, the numbers of live births, still births, early neonatal deaths, late neonatal deaths and post-neonatal deaths of babies with mothers with occupations in: (a) social class I, (b) social class II, (c) social class III non-manual, (d) social class III manual, (e) social class IV, (f) social class V, (g) in other occupations and (h) with no stated occupation;(2) if he will give for England and Wales for 1988 the numbers of live births, still births, early neonatal deaths, late neonatal deaths and post-neonatal deaths of babies with mothers with occupations in

(a) social class I, (b) social class II, (c) social class III non-manual, (d) social class III manual, (e) social class IV, (f) social class V, (g) other occupations and (h) with no stated occupation.

I shall write to the hon. Member shortly.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will give the numbers of women resident in (a) Dacorum local government district and (b) St. Albans local government district who gave birth in 1989 in (i) St. Albans City Hospital, (ii) Luton and Dunstable Hospital, (iii) Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Welwyn Garden City, (iv) Watford general hospital, (v) Royal Bucks hospital, Aylesbury, (vi) RAF Halton maternity unit, (vii) other hospitals, (viii) at home and (ix) elsewhere.

The information requested is as follows:

	Dacorum	St. Albans
St. Albans City hospital	1,016	1,124
Luton and Dunstable hospital	39	51
Queen Elizabeth II hospital, Welwyn Garden City	8	145
Watford general hospital	279	77
Royal Bucks hospital, Aylesbury	186	—
Non-NHS hospitals¹	189	6
Other NHS hospitals	78	101
At home	31	11
Elsewhere	3	0
	1,829	1,515
¹Figures for individual non-NHS hospitals are not available for 1989.

To ask the Secretary of State fro Health if he will give for England and Wales for 1983 and 1988 the

Birthweight within marriage and jointly registered outside marriage by father's social class for singleton livebirths
Birthweight
Social class of father	1,000	1,000–1,499	1,500–1,999	2,000–2,499	2,500	Not stated	Total
1983
Within marriage
I	80	110	310	1,030	36,720	50	38,300
II	120	400	910	3,680	109,150	130	114,380
IIIN	90	220	370	1,860	53,360	70	55,970
IIIM	330	910	1,910	6,620	174,910	180	184,860
IV	170	310	870	3,640	69,850	80	74,920
V	30	160	350	1,580	28,480	70	30,680
Other occupations¹	40	140	190	760	18,030	80	19,240
Occupation not stated	10	10	30	70	950	—	1,070
Total	870	2,260	4,940	19,240	491,150	660	519,420
Jointly registered outside marriage
I	10	—	10	20	920	—	960
II	30	60	50	380	6,500	10	7,020
IIIN	10	20	40	130	3,460	—	3,660
IIIM	80	170	390	1,290	23,250	30	25,210
IV	40	20	210	690	10,620	30	11,610
V	50	90	80	570	8,420	—	9,210
Other occupations¹	10	40	40	50	1,690	10	1,840
Occupation not stated	—	10	10	30	590	—	640
Total	230	410	830	3,160	55,450	80	60,150
1988
Within marriage
I	70	90	150	1,020	39,190	80	40,600
II	290	550	1,070	3,280	117,500	210	122,900
IIIN	120	260	470	1,700	51,120	50	53,710
IIIM	470	940	1,540	6,270	161,690	180	171,080
IV	180	380	680	2,770	63,430	50	67,490
V	90	120	270	1,230	23,050	40	24,790
Other occupations¹	60	50	190	710	21,310	60	22,380
Occupation not stated	—	10	20	110	1,480	10	1,630
Total	1,280	2,400	4,390	17,090	478,770	680	504,580
Jointly registered outside marriage
I	—	—	60	110	2,600	—	2,770
II	50	90	220	600	14,640	40	15,640
IIIN	20	70	110	230	7,560	20	8,020
IIIM	150	340	600	2,220	47,030	60	50,400
IV	40	180	420	1,150	21,640	20	23,450
V	90	120	240	750	14,270	30	15,500
Other occupations¹	10	70	20	210	3,220	10	3,540
Occupation not stated	20	10	40	60	1,690	—	1,820
Total	380	880	1,710	5,330	112,650	180	121,140
¹ Other occupations = Armed Forces, inadequately described, students, independent means, permanently sick, no previous job.

estimated total numbers of live births within marriage and jointly registered births outside marriage of singleton babies weighing (i) under 1000g, (ii) 1000–1499g, (iii) 1500–1999g, (iv) 2000–2499g, (v) 2500g and over and (vi) with unstated birthweights for babies with fathers in (a) social class I, (b) social class II, (c) social class III non-manual, (d) social class III manual, (e) social class IV, (f) social class V, (g) other occupations and (h) with no stated occupation.

The information is shown in the table. The data on social class are derived from a 10 per cent. coding of occupation details, and weighting factors have been applied to this sample to give estimated data. It should also be noted that the two years are not exactly comparable in the "other occupations" and "no stated occupation" categories due to a change in coding practice.

Volume 177: debated on Monday 15 October 1990