To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) people, (b) under 18 year olds, (c) under 16 year olds and (d) under 12 year olds (i) attended and (ii) were admitted via accident and emergency departments for excessive consumption of alcohol in each primary care trust area in England in each year since 1997-98. (285525)

The information for alcohol-related attendances at accident and emergency departments is not collected centrally. Information on alcohol-related hospital admissions is collected centrally. Tables which show the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions via accident and emergency departments has been placed in the Library. These relate to numbers of admissions rather than individuals.

A small proportion of alcohol-related hospital admissions relate to chronic conditions which, based on research evidence, are attributed to alcohol consumption within the Government's lower risk guidelines for regular consumption.

It should be noted that information on alcohol-related hospital admissions is only available for the years 2002-03 to 2007-08 and that because of patient confidentiality data for under 18s have not been broken down into the age groups requested. Additionally, primary care trust boundaries changed between 2005-06 and 2006-07, so separate tables have been provided for the two periods.