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1. This is the latest in a series of national surveys of secondary school children aged 11-15 in England. The first survey in the series was carried out in 1982 to provide estimates of the proportion of pupils who smoked and to describe the smoking behaviour of those who did smoke. Similar surveys were carried out every two years until 1998 to monitor trends in the prevalence of cigarette smoking. Questions on alcohol consumption were included for the first time in the 1988 survey, and the 1998 survey was the first to include questions on the prevalence of drug use. Surveys are now being carried out every year, with emphasis likely to alternate between drugs, smoking and drinking - the 1999 and 2001 surveys focussed mainly on drugs, the 1998 and 2000 surveys focussed mainly on smoking and drinking. Between 1982 and 1999 surveys were carried out by the Office for National Statistics; the 2000 and 2001 surveys were carried out by the National Centre for Social Research and the National Foundation for Educational Research.

2. The previous report in the series was Boreham R & Shaw A (eds)Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2000, Stationery Office (2001). It is available on the Department of Health website.

3. The governments smoking strategy is set out in 'Smoking Kills' : A White Paper on Tobacco, Cm 4177, Stationery Office (1998).

4. The government's ten year drugs strategy is set out in Tackling drugs to build a better Britain,Cm 3945, Stationery Office (1998).

5. The following convention has been used in tables:0 = less than 0.5%, but not zero
- = Zero

6. In this survey regular smokers are defined as those who usually smoke at least one cigarette a week.

7. A unit of alcohol is 8 grams by weight or 1cl (10ml) by volume of pure alcohol. This is the approximate amount contained in half a pint of ordinary strength beer or lager (4% alcohol by volume), a single pub measure of spirits (25ml), a small glass of ordinary strength wine (9% alcohol by volume), or a single pub measure of sherry or fortified wine. In defining the number of units drunk, the alcoholic strength and volume measures of drinks are assumed to be the same - such that for example a pint of beer is defined as 2 units of alcohol regardless of the brand of beer, and a glass of wine is defined as 1 unit regardless of the size of the glass. It would be impractical to collect very accurate information on strength and volume in this type of survey. Hence, total alcohol consumption is estimated using a set of consistent assumptions, which nevertheless clearly imply a degree of approximation in these measurements.

8. In 2001, the questions about taking drugs were changed so that pupils were asked a series of questions about each drug - had they heard of it, been offered it, ever tried it and if so when did they last use it, and how did they usually take the drug if there are different ways of taking it. Previously pupils had to look at a long list of drugs and were asked different questions about which drugs they had heard of, been offered, or had taken. Wording of questions was also changed so that pupils were asked about whether they had ever "tried" drugs rather than "used" drugs, as evidence from cognitive work on question design suggested that "using" drugs is associated with being a regular user, rather than just trying them once. There was evidence that pupils found answering questions with a long list of drugs a more difficult task than answering a series of questions about each drug, and that pupils may have got into a pattern of just ticking that they had never used any drugs and not paying enough attention to reading the list of drugs carefully. This appears to have particularly been the case for reported levels of use of glue, gas or other solvents which were at the bottom of the list of drugs. Reported levels of using these volatile substances increased substantially between 2000 and 2001, while levels of reporting of other types of drugs were similar in both surveys. It is more likely that this difference in reporting is due to the change in question format rather than a real change in behaviour. Simplifying the questions has improved the data quality and results in better estimates of drug use, however estimates from 2001 are not comparable with estimates from previous surveys.

9. Reported levels of drug use in the last month and last year had increased slightly between 1998 and 2000. In 2000, 9 per cent of pupils had used drugs in the last month and 14 per cent had used drugs in the last year, compared with 7 per cent and 11 per cent respectively in 1998. The new estimates for 2001 were 12 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. There are a number of possible explanations for the difference between 2000 and 2001 prevalence figures:

10. The following table lists the specific drugs that pupils were asked about in this survey, and indicates their classification under the Misuse of Drugs Act. This divides controlled drugs into three categories according to their harmfulness: Class A drugs are considered to cause the most harm. This Statistical Press Notice includes prevalence of use of Class A drugs, although the following points need to be borne in mind about the definition of use of Class A drugs.

The classification of certain drugs depends on the method of delivery used. For example, amphetamines are a Class B drug if taken orally and a Class A drug if injected. Additional questions were included in the 2001 survey to allow this distinction to be made, but in previous surveys amphetamines were not defined as a Class A drug.

The Class A drugs mentioned in the survey (Amphetamines when injected, Ecstasy, Cocaine, Crack, Heroin, LSD, Magic Mushrooms, Methadone) are not an exhaustive list of Class A drugs.

11. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is an independent, social research institute, registered as a charitable trust. A high proportion of the institute's work is carried out on behalf of central government departments, with other work undertaken on behalf of health authorities, NHS trusts, local authorities, voluntary organisations, and other public sector bodies. NatCen conducts small and large scale surveys, ad hoc projects, continuous and annual surveys.

12. The National Foundation for Educational Research has been engaged in educational research since 1946 and is an independent foundation with charitable status. The Foundation undertakes research and evaluation for local and national agencies, in the government, commercial and charitable sectors. The research programme is concerned with all aspects of education and training, a major part being concerned with the public education system.