Spearhead Primary Care Trust

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of (a) the proportion of obese children, (b) the proportion of overweight children, (c) the percentage of people who smoke, (d) the percentage of people who drink, (e) the percentage of people who take drugs, (f) the teenage pregnancy rate and (g) the rate of sexually transmitted infections in respect of (i) Spearhead and (ii) non-Spearhead primary care trusts in each year since the inception of the Spearhead primary care trust programme. (318190)

Not all the information is available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following tables.

Spearhead areas are defined based on local authority (LA) data. Spearhead primary care trusts (PCTs) are those that overlap geographically, either wholly or partly, with the Spearhead LAs. Where available, information is shown based on the 62 Spearhead PCTs (14 of which only partly overlap with the Spearhead LAs). Where information is not available by PCT, figures are based on the 70 Spearhead LAs. The Spearhead Group was launched in 2005.

*Proportion of children aged 2 to 15 who are overweight and obese, by Spearhead group, 2008*
Percentage
	Boys	Girls
Obese children
Spearhead PCTs	20	17
Non-Spearhead PCTs	15	14

Overweight children
Spearhead PCTs	16	14
Non-Spearhead PCTs	14	14
Notes: 1. Figures are based on the 62 Spearhead PCTs (so are based on a larger population than the 70 Spearhead LAs). 2. Figures are shown for 2008 only. In 2008 the definitions used in the analysis were revised from those used in previous years to correct an error in the classification of children as either “overweight” or “obese”. Results were not significantly different from those presented previously; however, revised data sets have not yet been made available for previous years. 3. Figures are based on children aged 2-15 with a valid body mass index (BMI) measurement. 4. Categories are mutually exclusive, i.e. overweight does not include those who are obese. 5. Overweight was defined as at or above the 85th but below the 95th UK National BMI percentile; obese was defined as at or above the 95th UK National BMI percentile. Source: Data from Health Survey for England, published in “Health Survey for England 2008 Volume 1—physical activity and fitness”, The NHS Information Centre for health and social care, 2009 (table 13.5).

*Proportion of adults aged 16 and over who drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, by Spearhead group, 2005-08*
Percentage
	2005	2006	2007	2008
Adults who smoke
Spearhead LAs¹	27	27	26	24
Non-Spearhead LAs¹	22	20	19	19

Adults who drink
Spearhead LAs¹	83	84	85	84
Non-Spearhead LAs¹	88	88	88	87
¹PCTs for 2008. Notes: 1. Figures for 2005-07 are based on the 70 Spearhead LAs. Figures for 2008 are based on the 62 Spearhead PCTs (so are based on a larger population than the 70 Spearhead LAs). 2. “Adults who drink! is based on answers to two questions: Those who answer, “yes” to “Do you drink alcohol nowadays?” are classified as drinkers. Those who answer “no” are then asked, “Could I just check, does that mean you never have an alcoholic drink nowadays or do you have an alcoholic drink very occasionally, perhaps for medicinal purposes or on special occasions like Christmas or New Year?”. Those who answer “Very occasionally” are also classed as drinkers. Source: Unpublished analysis from the General Lifestyle Survey, Office for National Statistics.

*Proportion of 16 to 59-year-olds reporting use of any illicit drug, by Spearhead group, 2004-05 to 2008-09 British Crime Survey*
Percentage
	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Any illicit drug use in the last year
Spearhead LAs	11.1	11.1	10.5	11.9
Non-Spearhead LAs	10.3	9.6	9.2	9.3
Notes: 1. Figures are based on the 70 Spearhead LAs (so are based on a smaller population than the 62 Spearhead PCTs). 2. Based on a sample survey. Unweighted base numbers for 2008-09 are 6,793 (Spearhead LAs) and 19,013 (non-Spearhead LAs); bases will be similar in earlier years. 3. “Any drug” comprises powder cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, magic mushrooms, heroin, methadone, amphetamines, cannabis, tranquilisers, anabolic steroids, amyl nitrite, glues, any other pills/powders/drugs smoked, plus ketamine since 2006-07 and methamphetamine since 2008-09. Source: Unpublished analysis from the British Crime Survey (BCS).

*Under-18 conception rates, by Spearhead group, 2004-06 to 2006-08*
	2004-06	2005-07	2006-08¹
Under-18 conception rate
Spearhead LAs	55.2	55.2	54.4
Non-Spearhead LAs	35.4	35.6	35.5
¹ Provisional. Notes: 1. Figures are based on the 70 Spearhead LAs (so are based on a smaller population than the 62 Spearhead PCTs). 2. Rates are per 1,000 female population aged 15-17. 3. Figures are three-year average rates. Figures for 2006-08 are provisional. Source: Unpublished analysis of data from Office for National Statistics and Teenage Pregnancy Unit.

Rate of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

Data on STIs diagnosed in genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics are currently collected only by strategic health authority. Data on the rates of STIs for the period 2004 to 2008, the latest data for which figures are available, are published in “Selected ST1 diagnoses numbers and rates from GUM clinics in the UK: 2004-2008”, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.

Volume 506: debated on Friday 26 February 2010