Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with spina bifida in each of the last three years.

The following table shows the number of reported cases of spina bifida in England in the last three years for which data are available. These data include all reported cases of spina bifida registerable in accordance with European network of population-based registries for the epidemiological surveillance of congenital anomalies (EUROCAT) guidance which is available at the following link:

https://eu-rd-platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eurocat

These data exclude spontaneous miscarriage before 20 weeks gestation and cases of spina bifida occulta.

Number of reported cases of spina bifida in England, 2015 - 2017

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ncardrs-congenital-anomaly-annual-data

The following table shows the estimated number of cases of congenital heart disease in England in the last three years for which data are available. These data include all reported cases of CHD registerable in accordance with European network of population-based registries for the epidemiological surveillance of congenital anomalies (EUROCAT) guidance which can be viewed at the following link

https://eu-rd-platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eurocat

This is likely to be an under-estimate of the actual number of cases as milder forms of congenital heart disease are often diagnosed later.

The estimated number of reported cases of congenital heart disease in England, 2015 - 2017

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ncardrs-congenital-anomaly-annual-data