To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many maternal deaths there were whilst receiving maternity care in (a) Yorkshire and (b) England in each of the last three years. (132967)

The information is not available in the format requested. However, the confidential enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH)’s report on maternal death for the three-year period 2000-02 showed that there were 106 direct maternal deaths in that period, representing 5.3 deaths per thousand of the two million births. The next CEMACH report (for 2003-05) will be published at the end of the year.