Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the latest estimate of the percentage of women of child-bearing age who are deficient in folic acid.

Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey provides data on total serum folate and red blood cell folate levels in women of childbearing age in the United Kingdom based on blood samples collected from 2008-2012. 7% of women of childbearing age (16-49 years) had red blood cell folate levels below the clinical threshold indicating risk of anaemia (305 nanomoles per litre (nmol/l)). 3% of women of childbearing age had serum total folate levels below the clinical threshold used by World Health Organization to indicate folate deficiency (6.8nmol/l) and 33% had levels below the threshold indicating possible deficiency (13nmol/l).