Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the number of children born each year in the UK suffering from Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

Public Health England collect and report information on individuals with foetal alcohol syndrome, however only those identified at birth are notified so it is recognised that this is a significant underestimation of the overall prevalence.

The figures available relate to births in 2012-2016 and cover five regions in England only: the South West, East Midlands and South Yorkshire, Wessex, Thames Valley and the North, including North East and Cumbria, prevalence tables by region and year can be found at the following link:

http://www.eurocat-network.eu/prevdata/resultsPdf.aspx?title=A5&allanom=false&allregf=true&allrega=true&anomalies=83&winx=1256&winy=677

Rates vary from 0.00 per 10,000 - 0.16 per 10,000 births compared to a European prevalence of 0.54 per 10,000 births.