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Written question asked by Audrey Wise (Labour) on Tuesday, 1 February 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 14 February 2000. It was answered by Yvette Cooper (Labour) on Monday, 14 February 2000 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what was the number of births in hospitals in England which were (a) spontaneous, (b) by Caesarean section, (c) by forceps, (d) by vacuum extraction and (e) otherwise, broken down by social class of the babies' fathers for births which were (i) within marriage and (ii) outside marriage and registered jointly by both parents and (iii) outside marriage registered by the mother alone; what was the number of births in hospitals in England which were (a) spontaneous, (b) by Caesarean section, (c) by forceps, (d) by vacuum extraction and (e) otherwise, broken down by social class of the babies' mothers, in the most recent year for which the information is available. - Including table, and fact that information requested is not available in the form requested, and ref to Office for National Statistics Series FMI volumes Birth statistics in Library.
Answer

Audrey Wise: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what was the number of births in hospitals in England which were (a) spontaneous, (b) by Caesarean section, (c) by forceps, (d) by vacuum extraction and (e) otherwise, broken down by social class of the babies' fathers for births which were (i) within marriage and (ii) outside marriage and registered jointly by both parents and (iii) outside marriage registered by the mother alone; [108679] (2) what was the number of births in hospitals in England which were (a) spontaneous, (b) by Caesarean section, (c) by forceps, (d) by vacuum extraction and (e) otherwise, broken down by social class of the babies' mothers, in the most recent year for which the information is available. [108678] Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not available in the form requested. The numbers of births by type of delivery are collected by the Department on the Hospital Episode Statistics system. The numbers of births by social class of father and mother, and inside/outside marriage including sole registration are collected by the Office for National Statistics through the birth registration system. These two systems are not linked and the information requested cannot be provided. The latest statistics on births by social class of father and type of registration (inside/outside marriage) for England and Wales for 1998, published by the Office for National Statistics, is contained in the Series FM1 volumes Birth statistics. Copies are in the Library. The latest information on the number of maternities by method of delivery are preliminary estimates for 1997-98 and are in the table. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Method of delivery Percentage Number (thousand) Spontaneous 71 412 Caesarean 17 99 Forceps 4 23 Vacuum extraction 6 35 Other (including breach) 2 12 Total maternities 100 580 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (Maternity) and the Office for National Statistics

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
344 c387-8W; 108679;108678
Session
1999-00
Subjects
Parents Childbirth Social class Caesarean sections
Contains statistics
Yes