To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children under the age of 16 years died as a result of solvent abuse in the most recent years for which figures are available.

The most complete data available come from a continuing study carried out by the department of clinical epidemiology and social medicine of St. George's hospital medical school, London.This study—the national study of deaths associated with the abuse of volatile substances—collects data from a variety of sources, including death registrations and a survey of coroners' findings. It suggests that in 1985 there were 23, and in 1986 27 (provisional figure) such deaths of those aged under 16 in England and Wales.