§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will conduct an inquiry into the incidence of leukaemia deaths in the Rosyth dockyard area.
§ Mr. John MacKayI am considering how best the necessarily complex statistical and epidemiological analysis of claims made about the incidence of leukaemia near Rosyth dockyard and other defence establishments in Scotland can be undertaken.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish a table showing the number of deaths caused by leukaemia in the Dunfermline district, the Fife region and Scotland for each year since 1970.
§ Mr. John MacKayThe numbers of deaths in which the underlying cause of death was recorded as leukaemia are given in the table. Figures for Dunfermline district are not readily available on a comparable basis prior to 1974. The change in international classification (ICD) codes noted below the table relates entirely to the revision of the ICD introduced in 1979 and does not affect the comparability of the figures.
Deaths with leukaemia* as underlying cause, 1970–1984 Year Dunfermline district Fife region Scotland 1970 NA 19 241 1971 NA 20 306 1972 NA 25 303 1973 NA 20 266 1974 2 15 278 1975 12 19 304 1976 5 23 324 1977 7 18 313 1978 5 18 321 1979 10 20 304 1980 9 26 312 1981 8 27 285 1982 11 21 302 1983 1 15 307 1984 7 21 306 * ICD codes 204–207, 1970–1978, 204–208, 1979–1984 NA = not available.