Written question asked by Lord Lansley (Conservative) on Thursday, 9 March 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 March 2006. It was answered by John Healey (Labour) on Thursday, 16 March 2006 on behalf of the Office for National Statistics.

Drug-related Deaths

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2006 to the hon. Member for Woking (Mr. Malins), Official Report, columns 1731–32W, on drug-related deaths, if he will break down the number of deaths which occurred in each year since 1997 by (a) adults and (b) children.

Answer

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 16 March 2006:"The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question (pursuant to the answer of 23rd January 2006 to the hon. member for Woking, Official Report, columns 1731–2W, on drug related deaths) seeking a break down of the number of deaths which occurred in each year since 1997 by (a) adults and (b) children. I am replying in her absence. (58567)""The previous answer gave figures to 2003. The most recent year for which figures are now available is 2004. The table below shows the number of deaths for which the underlying cause was drug poisoning, where any drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act were mentioned on the death certificate by age group for the years 1997 to 2004."

Deaths from drug-related poisoning involving illegal substances in (a) adults and (b) children England and Wales, 1997 to 2004⁽¹¹⁾
	(a) adults aged 16 and over	(b) children aged under 16	All ages
1997	1,201	3	1,204
1998	1,346	3	1,349
1999	1,468	3	1,471
2000	1,567	4	1,571
2001	1,529	6	1,535
2002	1,428	2	1,430
2003	1,126	3	1,129
2004	1,301	4	1,305
⁽¹¹⁾ Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (1CD-9) codes 292, 304, 305.2–305.9, E850-E858, E950.0-E950.5, E962.0 and E980.0-E980.5 for 1994 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (1CD-10) codes F11-F16, F18- F19, X40-X44, X60-X64, X85 and Y10-Y14 from 2001 onwards.
⁽¹²⁾ Includes deaths where the underlying cause was drug-related poisoning and a drug controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 was mentioned on the death record.
⁽¹³⁾ Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year.
⁽¹⁴⁾ Figures for 2003 have been corrected from those previously published due to an error in the coding of drug misuse deaths for that data year. This was reported in Health Statistics Quarterly 29, which was released on 23 February 2006.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 58567; 443 c2412-3W;443 c2412W
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Drugs Misuse
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk

Drug-related Deaths

Secondary information

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