Written question asked by Lindsay Hoyle (Labour) on Friday, 12 November 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 November 2004. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Wednesday, 17 November 2004 on behalf of the Office for National Statistics.

Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Question: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people are suffering from cancer in (a) Chorley and (b) the North West. - Inc text of letter from Len Cook of ONS and ref to ONS website.

Answer: Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are suffering from cancer in (a) Chorley and (b) the North West. [198936] Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply. Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Lindsay Hoyle, dated 17 November 2004: As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how many people are suffering from cancer in (a) Chorley and (b) North West. (198936) Figures on the number of people suffering from cancer at any point in time are not routinely calculated for England as a whole, or for areas within England. Available figures relate to newly diagnosed cases in each year and are for England and Government Office Regions only. The latest available figures are for the year 2001. These were published in "Cancer statistics: registrations, England 2001. Series MB1 no.32. London: The Stationery Office, 2004" on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics. gov.uk/downloads/theme health/MB1 32.pdf There were 32,533 newly diagnosed cases of cancer in the North West in 2001 (based on International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision codes C00-C97 excluding C44).

Secondary information