To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have (a) suffered from and (b) died from asthma in each of the last five years for which figures are available; how many family practitioner committees curently fund asthma clinics run by their general practitioners; and whether the Government intends to continue their support for asthma screening clinics in general practice.
Information on the number of people suffering from asthma is not available. The information requested on deaths from asthma is set out in the table. Information on the number of family practitioner committees making sessional payments to GPs running health promotion clinics for asthma sufferers is not collected centrally. It is for family practitioner committees to determine which clinics will qualify for sessional payments as health promotion clinics. In principle, and provided the FPC is satisfied that the other criteria—duration, numbers attending, and so on—are met, there is no reason why asthma clinics should not qualify for payments.
| Number of deaths due to asthma1, England and Wales 1985–89 | |||
| Year | Males | Females | Total |
| 1985 | 828 | 1,144 | 1,972 |
| 1986 | 827 | 1,163 | 1,990 |
| 1987 | 803 | 1,095 | 1,898 |
| 1988 | 832 | 1,174 | 2,006 |
| 21989 | 782 | 1,175 | 1,957 |
Note:
From 1986 onwards an underlying cause of death was not assigned to deaths occurring to those aged 28 days. 19862 data therefore relate to those deaths occurring at 28 days1 .
1 International Classification of Disease Code 493.
2 Provisional.