§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total number of deaths in(a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland from methadone in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement. [44011]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated June 1998:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on the total number of deaths in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland from Methadone for each of the last four years.The data requested are shown in the table below.
Deaths involving methadone in England, Wales and Scotland 1994–1997 1994 1995 1996 1997' England 246 273 328 286 Wales 8 18 16 13 Scotland 55 58 101 87 Total 309 349 445 386 1 1997 data are provisional Notes:
Data for England and Wales represent the number of deaths occurring in each year
Data for Scotland represent the number of deaths registered in each year, and were supplied by the General Register Office for Scotland
The deaths included correspond to those with an underlying cause of death of drug dependence, nondependent abuse of drugs, accidental poisoning, suicidal poisoning or poisoning undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted and where methadone was mentioned on the death certificate.
The figures include deaths attributed to methadone in combination with other drugs. In some cases, therefore, the death may not be directly or solely due to methadone.