Abortion

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has issued any instructions about the provision of abortion in those districts which have reduced their abortion services;(2) what plans he has for reducing geographical inequalities in the provision of abortion services.

The level of gynaecological provision including abortion, like any other provision within the national health service, is decided by individual health authorities. The Government believe that such decisions are best taken locally in the light of authorities' first-hand knowledge of local needs and priorities and competing claims on resources.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the ratio of NHS to non-NHS abortions in each regional health area by place of usual residence for each year since 1985.

The information requested has been placed in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many abortions were paid for by the NHS under agency arrangements in 1988, 1989 and 1990, by place of usual residence; (a) in each regional health authority and (b) in each district health authority.

Information on terminations performed in individual district health authorities cannot be released on grounds of confidentiality. Data for terminations in regional health authorities are shown in the table. The latest full data year available is 1989.

Number of terminations to residents of England and Wales carried out in each regional health authority (RHA) under agency arrangements by RHA of usual residents, 1988, 1989
		RHA of usual residence
RHA of termination	Year	England and Wales	Wales	Northern	Yorks.	Trent	East Anglian	North West Thames	North East Thames
England and Wales	1988	9,357	5	2	445	795	3	1,036	27
	1989	9,200	4	3	438	88	3	1,240	29
Wales	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Northern	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Yorkshire	1988	420	0	0	420	0	0	0	0
	1989	435	0	0	434	1	0	0	0
Trent	1988	723	0	2	23	698	0	0	0
	1989	8	0	3	3	2	0	0	0
East Anglian	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North West Thames	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North East Thames	1988	9	0	0	0	0	0	7	1
	1989	7	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
South East Thames	1988	371	0	0	0	1	0	5	2
	1989	438	0	0	0	0	0	3	7
South West Thames	1988	1,318	0	0	0	0	0	1,012	24
	1989	1,504	0	0	0	0	2	1,226	21
Wessex	1988	751	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	704	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Oxford	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Western	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Midlands	1988	5,762	4	0	0	96	3	12	0
	1989	6,100	3	0	1	85	1	8	0
Mersey	1988	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Western	1988	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
	1989	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

RHA of termination	Year	South East Thames	South west Thames	Wessex	Oxford	South Western	West Midlands	Mersey	North Western
England and Wales	1988	591	24	682	354	95	5,296	1	1
	1989	613	42	646	390	81	5,618	3	2
Wales	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Northern	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Yorkshire	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Trent	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Anglian	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North West Thames	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North East Thames	1988	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
	1989	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
South East Thames	1988	329	2	9	1	2	20	0	0
	1989	380	15	15	1	2	15	0	0
South West Thames	1988	262	16	0	4	0	0	0	0
	1989	232	17	0	5	0	1	0	0
Wessex	1988	0	6	672	4	66	1	1	0
	1989	0	9	629	2	62	1	0	0
Oxford	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

RHA of termination	Year	South East Thames	South west Thames	Wessex	Oxford	South Western	West Midlands	Mersey	North Western
South Western	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Midlands	1988	0	0	1	344	27	5,275	0	0
	1989	0	0	1	382	17	5,601	1	0
Mersey	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
North Western	1988	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1989	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the number of abortions for resident women of England and Wales carried out (a) in NHS premises, (b) by agency arrangements and (c) in the private sector in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990.

The data are shown in the table. The latest full data year available is 1989.

Number of terminations by category of premises (a) NHS (b) private sector¹(c) agency, England and Wales 1985–89 England and Wales residents
Year	NHS	Private sector	Agency
1985	65,176	69,996	5,929
1986	67,451	73,349	6,819
1987	69,442	78,708	8,041
1988	69,103	89,838	9,357
1989	70,722	90,541	9,200
¹ All non-NHS minus those performed under Agency arrangements.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what instructions or advice his Department has issued to health authorities in the past 10 years on the provision of NHS abortion services.

The Department discussed the findings of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' report on late abortions in England and Wales in 1985 with regional general managers and regional medical officers and health authorities were encouraged to improve their administrative referral systems. The chief medical officer and chief nursing officer issue circulars and letters to all doctors and nursing officers about aspects of abortion treatment and care when appropriate.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the proportion of the cost of an NHS abortion accounted for by the legal requirement for two doctors to assess and certify a patient's eligibility under the terms of the Abortion Act 1967.

Information is not available in the form requested, but the estimated revenue cost of an abortion in NHS hospitals is £200.

Volume 184: debated on Monday 28 January 1991