§ Jim DowdTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether her Department maintains the(a) Home Accidents Deaths Database, (b) the Home Accident Surveillance System and (c) the Leisure Accidents Surveillance System. [175826]
§ Mr. SutcliffeOn 2 May 2003, my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Miss Johnson), the then Minister for Competition, Consumers and Markets, announced that the DTI will no longer collect statistics on the causes and nature of home and leisure accidents. Following increased pressure on resources and the need to focus on the Department's core priorities, hard decisions had to be made on what to stop. The Home Accident Surveillance System (HASS) and the Leisure Accidents Surveillance System (LASS) did not fit with these priorities.
Data from HASS and LASS for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 were published in December 2003. These systems are no longer maintained by DTI, and no further data have been collected beyond 2002. An inquiry service on HASS and LASS historic data up to and including 2002 is being provided by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for a period of five years with effect from 1 January 2004.
The Home Accidental Deaths Database held data up to and including 1995, and for similar reasons is no longer maintained by the Department. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) collects information about fatal accidents.