ONE in ten York women continued to smoke during their pregnancy last year, figures have shown.

Nationally 11.4 per cent of pregnant women were recorded as smokers at the time of giving birth in 2014 to 15, representing 70,880 out of 622,640 maternities.

In the Vale of York CCG area, which includes Selby, 9.8 per cent of women were smokers when they had their babies, amounting to 78 pregnancies. The rate was 9.4 per cent in the Harrogate and rural area.

However, in Scarborough and Ryedale the figures were much higher, with 21.2 per cent of women recorded as smokers at the time of giving birth, amounting to 55 pregnancies.

In the East Riding, the numbers were just above average at 12.4 per cent and in the Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby area the rate was 11.4 per cent.

Cllr Carol Runciman, City of York Council's executive member for adult social care and health, said: "Smoking in pregnancy often brings the risk of low birth weight babies.

"It's always difficult for mothers to stop but during pregnancy this is a priority and I hope as much help as possible will be available to support mothers at this time."

The figures published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) show there has been a steady decline of recorded smokers from 15.1 per cent in 2006/7.

The Durham, Darlington and Tees Area Team recorded the highest prevalence, with one in five women (19.9 per cent) reporting that they were smokers at the time of giving birth.

Amongst clinical commissioning groups, NHS Blackpool recorded the highest prevalence at 27.2 per cent and NHS Central London (Westminster) recorded the lowest prevalence at 2.1 per cent.

Of the 211 clinical commissioning groups in England, 43 per cent (90 out of 211) have met the national ambition to reduce rates of smoking throughout pregnancy to 11 per cent or less by the end of 2015.