Scottish Government reports or briefings containing annual miscarriage estimates: FOI release

Information requested

Please can you provide the estimated number of miscarriage for each of the last 10 years for which data are available, including:

• Any national-level estimates produced or used by the Scottish Government;
• Any analyses, reports, or briefings (including internal papers) that include annual miscarriage estimates.

Response

The Scottish Government does not collect miscarriage data.

Miscarriage data used by the Scottish Government in the last 10 years includes the following two data estimates:

“It is thought that miscarriage affects around 1 in 5 pregnancies before 12 weeks gestation”.

and 

“In the UK, an estimated 250,000 miscarriages occur every year, suggesting around 25,000 per year in Scotland”.

The 1 in 5 pregnancies estimated data comes from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Early miscarriage | RCOG and the 250,000 figure comes from Effective Communication Following Pregnancy Loss: A Study in England - PubMed published in January 2021  and used in the UK Government Report CP 805 – The Independent Pregnancy Loss Review – Care and support when baby loss occurs before 24 weeks gestation – July 2023 published in July 2023.  The Scottish estimate is 10% of the UK figure which is 25,000.

The Scottish Government published documents containing the above data are as follows: (previous draft versions have not been released and the reason for this can be found in the Annex).

Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report National
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Ayrshire and Arran
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Borders
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Dumfries and Galloway
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Fife
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Forth Valley
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Grampian
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Highland
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Lanarkshire
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Lothian
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Orkney
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Shetland
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Tayside
Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Western Isles
Maternity Services Policy DL (2025) 02
Delivery Framework for Miscarriage Care in Scotland
Best Start Foods - Equality Impact Assessment 2019

We are also able to partially release to you the following documents that contain this estimated data which you will find attached:

• Submission to Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health – Miscarriage Care and Treatment - 20 July 2021
• Briefing Members Business Debate: Motion S5M-22771: Changing Miscarriage Care - 6 October 2020
• Event briefing - Changing Miscarriage Care Campaign Launch -18 September 2020
• PfG 2021-22: Policy Development Commission - June 2021 – official sensitive
• Event briefing - Changing Miscarriage Care Campaign Online Event - 26 February 2021
• Miscarriage Briefing note for Radio interview Miss Todd - 1 December 2021
• Briefing for Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport - Meeting with Monica Lennon MSP and constituent - 23 February 2022
• Briefing for Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport - Meeting with Shona Robison MSP - 28 February 2022
• Briefing for Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health - Meeting with Monica Lennon MSP and constituent -Tuesday 28 November 2023
• Briefing on Miscarriage article involving progesterone - 21 February 2020
• Event Briefing Improving Bereavement Care Following Pregnancy, Baby and Infant Loss – 1 October 2025
• Briefing email to answer Minister question about 3 Miscarriages - 28 October 2019
• Briefing Chief Medical Officer meeting Shona Robison telephone – Current and new research – 21 February 2020
• Briefing Meeting with Shona Robison MSP – Changing Miscarriage Care Campaign 9 September 2020
• Member business debate - Tuesday 10 December 2019 – Motion S5M-17959 James Dornan – Briefing note
• Members' Business Tuesday 3 March 2020 - Pre-eclampsia - Miles Briggs Briefing Note
• Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme – Draft Equality Impact Assessment – 2019
• Social Security Spend – Outcome Template – Reducing Inequalities – 1 November 2023

Some portions of these documents will be redacted and the reasons for this will be stated in the ANNEX.

ANNEX

Reasons for not providing information

An exemption applies
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data, ie names, titles and contact details of individuals and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

An exemption under section 25(1) of FOISA that information is otherwise accessible. Links to published documents have been provided.

An exemption under section 29(1)(a) applied where the information relates to the formulation or development of government policy.

Information has been excluded that is not in the scope of your request. Information which is not in regard to miscarriage.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested
The Scottish Government does not hold the information you have asked for in relation to miscarriage data as we do not collect it.
As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202600513077 - Information Released - Annex

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