§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many(a) cases of and (b) deaths from malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have been recorded in England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [6224]
§ Mrs. Angela Knight[holding answer 27 November 1996]: The 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 10 December 1996:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to your recent question on how many cases of, and deaths from the malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have been recorded in each of the last five years.The figures for England are given in the attached table.National data on the incidence of cancer are not yet available for more recent years. The process of cancer registration is complex and takes time; the fastest of the regional registries in England and Wales takes about 2 years to achieve 90% completeness. National figures cannot be produced until data for the last of the regional registries have been received. Over the past five years a great deal of work has been done to try to improve timeliness without sacrificing quality and completeness. Several registries have introduced new 130W computer systems, and ONS has redeveloped its processing. Once the new systems are up and running figures will be produced more quickly.
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma1 1987–95 Year Cases Deaths 1987 5,241 3,023 1988 5,891 3,243 1989 5,639 3,278 1990 25,421 3,355 1991 26,166 3,470 1992 — 3,583 1993 — 3,544 1994 — 3,591 1995 — 3,727 1 International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, codes 200 and 201. 2 provisional figures only.