Written question asked by Peter Bottomley (Conservative) on Wednesday, 11 February 1998, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 17 February 1998. It was answered by Tony Blair (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 February 1998 on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister

Question: To ask the Prime Minister, if he will give responsibility for answering questions on the numbers and trends in the numbers of terminations performed under the Abortion Act 1967 to the Department of Health.

Answer: Mr. Peter Bottomley: To ask the Prime Minister if he will give responsibility for answering questions on the numbers and trends in the numbers of terminations performed under the Abortion Act 1967 to the Department of Health. [29678] The Prime Minister: Following the creation of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 1 April 1996 there is an agreed division of responsibility between ONS and Departments for answering Parliamentary Questions with a statistical content. Oral questions and written questions including issues of policy are answered by the relevant Department, while written questions seeking statistics only are answered by ONS. In line with these arrangements written questions seeking only statistics on abortions in England and Wales, are delegated by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Director of ONS for answer. There are no plans to change these arrangements.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 29678; 306 c524W;306 c522W
Session: 1997-98
Subjects: Abortion Departmental responsibilities Office for National Statistics Statistics Parliamentary questions
Legislation: Abortion Act 1967
Contains statistics: Yes