§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total number of deaths of children aged 13 to 16 years resulting from ingesting(a) heroin, (b) alcohol, (c) ecstasy, (d) speed, (e) glue, (f) Temazepam, (g) cannabis and (h) LSD in each of the last five years. [26470]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 2 February 1998:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me, as Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to answer your recent question asking for the total number of deaths to children aged 13 to 16 years in each of the last five years resulting from ingesting1 (a) heroin, (b) alcohol, (c) ecstasy, (d) speed, (e) glue, (f) temazepam, (g) cannabis and (h) LSD.Data for 1992 may be obtained from Table 10 of "Mortality Statistics: Injury and Poisoning 1992", Series DH4 no. 18, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library. This table lists all substances mentioned in the records of deaths assigned to accidental and other poisoning by solid or liquid substances.The table shows deaths to people aged under 20, data for children aged 13–16 are only available at disproportionate cost.The following table shows the remaining data for 1992 and also data for 1993–1996.463W
Deaths in England and Wales to children aged 13–16 years, 1992–96 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 (a) Heroin — 0 1 2 2 Alone — — 0 0 2 With other drugs2 — — 1 2 0 (b) Alcohol4 0 2 0 1 3 (c) Ecstasy — 0 0 0 3 Alone — — — — 2 With other drugs2 — — — — 1
Deaths in England and Wales to children aged 13–16 years, 1992–96 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 (d) 'Speed' (Amphetamines) — 0 2 3 0 Alone — — 1 0 — With other drugs2 — — 1 3 — (e) Glue3 22 17 13 15 n/a (f) Temazepam — 0 2(1) 2 0 Alone — — 0 0 — With other drugs2 — — 2(1) 2 — (g) Cannabis — 1 0 2 0 Alone — 0 — 0 — With other drugs2 — 1 — 2 — (h) LSD — 0 0 0 0 Alone — — — — — With other drugs2 — — — — — The figures in brackets are those deaths with a mention of alcohol and are included in the non-bracketed figures.
Deaths from alcohol for 1992 are those that were registered in the year, deaths for the years 1993–96 are those that occurred.
1 The route of administration (i.e., whether swallowed, injected, inhaled, etc.) of a toxic substance is not usually specified on the death certificate. The data above represent all mentions of drugs, however administered, where the death was certified as due to poisoning, drug dependence or non-dependent abuse of drugs.
2 If, for example, both heroin and cannabis are mentioned on a death certificate, the death will occur twice in the table, once under 'Heroin with other drugs' and once under 'Cannabis with other drugs'.
3 Data supplied by St. George's Hospital Medical School and are those deaths involving all volatile substances, including glue.
4 Deaths certified as due to alcoholic psychoses, alcohol dependence syndrome, non-dependent abuse of alcohol, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, and toxic effects of alcohol.