To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths have been attributed to methadone in each region of the United Kingdom in each of the last five years. [19015]
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Dr. Brian Iddon, dated 10 December 1997:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to your recent parliamentary question on deaths attributed to methadone.
The number of deaths in the United Kingdom for which methadone was mentioned on the death certificate are given in the table below, for 1993 to 1996.
The deaths included correspond to those with an underlying cause of death of drug dependence, nondependent abuse of drugs, accidental poisoning, suicidal poisoning or poisoning undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted.
The figures include deaths attributed to methadone in combination with other drugs. In some cases, therefore, the deaths may not be directly or solely due to methadone.
Deaths involving methadone in each region in the United Kingdom, 1993–1996
| ||||
1993
| 1994
| 1995
| 1996
| |
| North | 3 | 3 | 19 | 15 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 16 | 28 | 26 | 33 |
| East Midlands | 10 | 6 | 10 | 16 |
| East Anglia | 6 | 14 | 13 | 18 |
| South East | 77 | 87 | 80 | 105 |
| South West | 13 | 4 | 20 | 31 |
| West Midlands | 15 | 20 | 12 | 22 |
| North West | 70 | 84 | 93 | 88 |
| Wales | 5 | 8 | 18 | 16 |
| Scotland | 25 | 55 | 58 | 101 |
| Northern Ireland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-resident | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Total | 241 | 311 | 352 | 452 |
Note: Since 1993, the ONS has coded all diseases, injuries, drugs, operations and external causes mentioned on death certificates for England and Wales. This information is held electronically and we were able to extract data from 1993 to 1996. Comparable figures for years prior to 1993 could only be produced at disproportionate cost. A revised system for collecting information on drug-related deaths in Scotland was introduced in 1994. It is likely that the increase in numbers since 1993 is in part due to better information being provided by this new system.