With numerous reports and studies on how smoking during pregnancy can affect a baby's health, it appears mothers may be taking on board advice from the government and medical professionals as the number doing so at the time of delivery has decreased significantly over the past year.
This is according to data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), which shows fewer expectant mothers are now smoking than previous surveys, taking the figure to its lowest level since 2006-07.
The HSCIC's latest quarterly Statistics on Women's Smoking Status at Time of Delivery report looks at data relating to 632,960 women giving birth between January and March 2014, which reveals just 12 per cent were still having cigarettes up to their due date.
Although, this may seem like a high figure, it is in fact the lowest reported for eight years. Last year, it was 12.7 per cent, while in 2006, it was 15.1 per cent.
Regional variations were seen within the report's results, with the highest statistic (20.6 per cent) being recorded in the areas of Durham, Darlington and Teesside, while expectant mothers in London were found to be the least likely to smoke.
Looking at the respective Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), one in four women served by NHS Blackpool smoked while pregnant, with a low figure again being reported for those based in the capital (1.9 per cent).
Chair of the HSCIC Kingsley Manning commented: 'It is encouraging to see that since 2006-07, the number of pregnant women who smoked during pregnancy has declined. However, there is still a little way to go to achieve the national ambition.
'Today's figures highlight there is still work to be done and it is fundamental that mothers-to-be are aware of the damaging effects smoking can have on their baby.'
It is hoped that by the end of 2015, the number of women smoking will have decreased to 11 per cent or below. One-third of CCGs are already hitting this target.