Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many live births of children affected by (a) spina bifida, (b) hydrocephaly and (c) anencephaly there have been in each of the last five years.

Information on the number of live births affected by congenital abnormalities including spina bifida, hydrocephalus and anencephaly has been collected by the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers and is currently available for the years 2009–2012 at:

http://www.binocar.org/publications/reports

There are no current mechanisms in place for monitoring the take-up of advice given on the NHS Choices website about preventing spina bifida.