To ask the Secretary of State for Health what statistics she has on the number of reported cases of food poisoning in the United Kingdom in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.
The table shows the number of reported cases for England and Wales only. Information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
| Food poisoning cases England and Wales 1988–92 | |
| Year | Total |
| 1988 | 39,713 |
| 1989 | 52,557 |
| 1990 | 52,145 |
| 1991 | 52,543 |
| 11992 | 64,882 |
| 1 Provisional. | |
Source: OPCS.
The Government have initiated a major new surveillance programme to collect and analyse hard information about the sources and causes of human food-borne illness. As part of this programme, a major new study will start later this year in England, which aims to provide a sound basis for assessing the true incidence and causes of food-borne disease in the population as well as its economic cost.
Income from private patients
| |||||
£ thousands (cash)
| |||||
1987–88
| 1988–89
| 1989–90
| 1990–91
| 1991–92
| |
| Northern | 1,504 | 1,511 | 1,716 | 1,986 | 1,877 |
| Yorkshire | 3,425 | 3,769 | 3,963 | 4,888 | 4,542 |
| Trent | 2,385 | 2,794 | 3,114 | 2,809 | 3,465 |
| East Anglian | 3,093 | 3,888 | 4,709 | 5,241 | 7,319 |
| North West Thames | 8,150 | 10,233 | 11,700 | 13,171 | 13,984 |
| North East Thames | 8,791 | 10,987 | 13,958 | 16,184 | 11,158 |
| South East Thames | 6,828 | 7,809 | 8,576 | 10,905 | 11,692 |
| South West Thames | 2,702 | 2,729 | 3,291 | 4,061 | 3,528 |
| Wessex | 1,665 | 2,202 | 2,471 | 3,263 | 4,383 |
| Oxford | 4,849 | 5,778 | 8,083 | 9,462 | 9,725 |
| South Western | 2,627 | 3,154 | 3,591 | 4,750 | 2,112 |
| West Midlands | 3,439 | 3,594 | 4,313 | 5,573 | 6,327 |
| Mersey | 2,055 | 2,032 | 1,648 | 1,981 | 2,006 |
| North Western | 4,094 | 4,505 | 5,302 | 6,533 | 4,950 |
| SHAs | 11,287 | 11,910 | 15,141 | 16,663 | 21,513 |
| NHS Trusts | — | — | — | — | 32,254 |
| Total | 66,893 | 76,895 | 91,577 | 107,472 | 140,834 |
Notes:
1. SHAs = Special health authorities for the London postgraduate teaching hospitals.
2. Some total columns do not add precisely because of rounding.