To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what was the average length of time for maternity confinements in Wales in (a) 1961, (b) 1971, (c) 1979 and (d) at the latest available date.

Information on length of maternity confinements is available centrally only for those deliveries which took place in hospital from 1982 onwards. The average length of stay for a patient whose hospital stay included a recorded delivery is given as follows for 1982 and 1989:

Average length of stay of delivery episodes
	Days
1982	5·2
1989	4·8

Information on the average length of stay of all obstetrics and all GP maternity hospital stays is, however, available for the years requested and is given in the following table. Figures for 1982 are also given for comparison purposes:

Average length of stay
	1Obstetrics Days	1GP maternity Days
1961	10·3	9·2
1971	6·2	5·5
1979	5·5	4·7
1982	4·7	4·6
1989·90	3·7	3·7