Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what comparative assessment they have made of the UK and other EU member states, in respect of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects.

We contribute to the European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies (EUROCAT), which reports on congenital anomaly statistics by country.

In 2015, the register for the prevalence of neural tube defects in live births, fetal deaths (over 20 weeks gestation) and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly for the United Kingdom (covering 25.8% of births) was 11.61 per 10,000 births. For other European Union member states, the prevalence range was from 2.19 per 10,000 births to 14.63 per 10,000.

It should be noted that 2015 data is not available for all EU member states feeding into the EUROCAT.

We are not currently in the position to compare the UK and other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members, in respect of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects.