§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 14 June 2004,Official Report, column 682W, on glue sniffing, what information is held centrally on the problem of glue sniffing among teenagers; and if he will make a statement. [180272]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Department commissions an annual national survey of secondary schoolchildren aged 11 to 15 about drug use, including glue, gas, aerosols or solvents, smoking and drinking among young people in England. The survey for 2003 was carried out by the national centre for social research (NatCen) and the national foundation for educational research (NFER), and was published in March 2004 by the Department. This document is available in the Library.
In addition, the Department funds the Department of Public Health Sciences at St. George's hospital medical school to collect statistics on deaths associated with the abuse of gas fuels, aerosols, glues and other solvent based products. The 16th annual report "Trends in Death Associated with abuse of volatile substances 1971–2001" highlighting mortality statistics for 2001, was published on 21 July 2003, and can be found on St. George's website at http://www.vsareport.org.