§ Lynne JonesTo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer to parliamentary question 76983, if he will provide separate figures for deaths caused by(a) crack cocaine and (c) cocaine in each of the last five years. [79384]
§ Ruth KellyThe answer requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Lynne Jones, dated 6 November 2002:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question asking for separate figures for deaths caused by (a) crack cocaine and (b) cocaine in each of the last five years.
It is not possible to provide separate figures on deaths related to crack cocaine and cocaine from routine mortality data, as these substances are not generally separately identified on death certificates.
The Office for National Statistics routinely publishes a combined figure for deaths mentioning cocaine on the death certificate. It is not possible, in cases where more than one substance is mentioned on the death certificate, to state which was primarily responsible for the death.