Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on breastfeeding prevalence at (a) six to eight weeks, (b) six months, (c) 12 months and (d) 24 months in each year since 2010.

Since 2015 Public Health England has published experimental statistics on breastfeeding prevalence at six to eight weeks. These data can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/breastfeeding-statistics

These data are based on an interim voluntary data collection by local authorities. Prior to 2015, this data was published by NHS England and is not comparable due to methodological changes.

Breastfeeding prevalence at six to eight weeks data is also available in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. These data can be found at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework/data#page/11/gid/1000042/pat/6/par/E12000001/ati/102/are/E06000005

There is no comparable data available for earlier years due to methodological changes.

Breastfeeding prevalence at six, 12 and 24 months is not reported nationally.