New figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre for 2014-15 show that 70,880 (11.4 per cent) pregnant women in England were smokers at the time of giving birth.

On the plus side, the proportion of pregnant women smoking is down from 15.1 per cent in 2006-07, with the latest figures the lowest on record. The percentage of smokers varied widely between clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), ranging from 27.2 per cent in Blackpool to 2.1 per cent in Westminster.

Fifty-seven per cent of CCGs have yet to met the target of reducing rates of smoking throughout pregnancy to 11.0 per cent or less by the end of 2015.

 

Pregnant smokers down but...