Earl Howe

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Rt Hon. the Earl Howe GBE

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

13 January 2025

Dear Earl Howe,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 21 November 2023 (HL36), whether data on an annualised basis on what proportion of deaths where COVID-19 is mentioned on the death certificate have been (1) male, and (2) female, for the period in which data are available, will be published (HL3740).

The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration, which is a legal requirement. This data enables the ONS to produce detailed statistics on deaths that are registered in England and Wales. In October 2024, the ONS published annual statistics for deaths registered in 2023[1]. Deaths where COVID-19 was the underlying cause by year are published in our Deaths registered in England and Wales dataset[2]. Table 1 also provides the data you have requested.

Table 1: Deaths registered where COVID-19 was the underlying cause, England and Wales, all ages excluding under 1, 2020 to 2023.

Source: Office for National Statistics

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregistrationsummarytables/2023

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsregisteredinenglandandwalesseriesdrreferencetables

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Rt Hon. the Earl Howe GBE

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

13 January 2025

Dear Earl Howe,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Questions asking how many excess deaths over the state pension age there have been in England and Wales for each year in which data are available in the last decade (HL3738); and how many age-standardised excess deaths there have been in England and Wales for each year in which data are available in the last decade (HL3739).

In February 2024, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published new estimates of excess deaths in the UK using a new method[1]. Estimates of excess deaths in the UK for those aged 65 and over for the last decade can be found in Table 1. State pension age varies by sex and changes over time, so we have presented figures for the 65 and over age group which most closely aligns with those at state pension age or above. Please also note that estimates from our model are only possible at a UK level when they are broken down by age.

Our new methodology for estimating excess deaths uses a statistical model to estimate the expected number of deaths. The model accounts for changes in population size, age structure, and trends in mortality over time. The estimates shown in Table 1 therefore account for changes in age structure. Further breakdowns providing excess deaths by age group are available in our Estimating excess deaths in the UK, methodology changes dataset[2].

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Annual estimates of expected and excess deaths, aged 65 and over, UK: 2011 to 2023.

Source: Office for National Statistics

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/articles/estimatingexcessdeathsintheukmethodologychanges/february2024

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/articles/estimatingexcessdeathsintheukmethodologychanges/february2024/relateddata

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Rt Hon. the Earl Howe GBE

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

13 January 2025

Dear Earl Howe,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Questions asking how many excess deaths over the state pension age there have been in England and Wales for each year in which data are available in the last decade (HL3738); and how many age-standardised excess deaths there have been in England and Wales for each year in which data are available in the last decade (HL3739).

In February 2024, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published new estimates of excess deaths in the UK using a new method[1]. Estimates of excess deaths in the UK for those aged 65 and over for the last decade can be found in Table 1. State pension age varies by sex and changes over time, so we have presented figures for the 65 and over age group which most closely aligns with those at state pension age or above. Please also note that estimates from our model are only possible at a UK level when they are broken down by age.

Our new methodology for estimating excess deaths uses a statistical model to estimate the expected number of deaths. The model accounts for changes in population size, age structure, and trends in mortality over time. The estimates shown in Table 1 therefore account for changes in age structure. Further breakdowns providing excess deaths by age group are available in our Estimating excess deaths in the UK, methodology changes dataset[2].

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Annual estimates of expected and excess deaths, aged 65 and over, UK: 2011 to 2023.

Source: Office for National Statistics

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/articles/estimatingexcessdeathsintheukmethodologychanges/february2024

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/articles/estimatingexcessdeathsintheukmethodologychanges/february2024/relateddata

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The Department does not hold the information requested.

To date, NHS England has published reports to Quarter three of the 2024/25 financial year. The following table shows the total cost to the National Health Service of employing locum doctors in England in each of the past five years, up until Quarter three of the 2024/25:

Source: Provider Finance Returns.

Medical graduates initially complete a two-year foundation programme after their graduation. It is common for doctors not to progress from the completion of the second year of their foundation programme directly into specialty training. The following table shows the proportion of doctors in year two of their foundation programme who had not progressed into medical specialty training programmes within each 12-month period of the end of their foundation training, in each of the last 10 years:

Source: General Medical Council, Education Data Tool Progression Reports, available on the General Medical Council’s website, in an online only format.

We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. This is central to the vision in our 10 Year Plan.  The following table shows the size of the medical school intake in England for each of the last five annual intakes available, the number of foundation programme trainees in years one and two in England, and the number of core and run through level one specialty training posts offered across all specialty pathways in England:

Sources: the Office for Students: Medical and Dental Students survey 2024, available at the Office for Students’ website in an online only format, the National Training Survey from the General Medical Council, available at the General Medical Council’s website in an online only format, and the Specialty Training Places: NHS England, Fill Rates dataset, available at the NHS.UK website in an online only format.

Notes:

1. 2024 entrants to university medical courses are based on initial figures and may change, and they also include medical degree apprentices for the first time, 25 in total, where the number of places are employer led;
2. the figures from the Specialty Training Places: NHS England, Fill Rates dataset include only level one specialty places and therefore do not include places available at levels three and four, where often specialty training programmes undertake further entrance points or are choices for those who have undertaken core training programmes to specialise further; and
3. the General Medical Council’s dashboard shows foundation years one and two combined.

In 2020 and 2021 the Government temporarily lifted the cap on medical school places for students who completed A-Levels and who had an offer from a university in England to study medicine, subject to their grades.

The UK Foundation Programme Office works to ensure that all eligible applicants receive a foundation training place.

Medical students completing their studies will initially apply to a two-year foundation programme of employment, and after completing that they will be able to apply to enter medical specialty training.

The Department does not hold information on doctors completing foundation year placements and entering specialty training as doctors are not required to rank applications where they are applying across multiple specialties. However, many individual specialties do utilise a single national process where geographical locations can be ranked.

The United Kingdom’s Foundation Programme Office does publish information on the success of medical graduates in accessing foundation programme placement choices. This shows that 84% of the 10,634 applicants across the UK got their first preference foundation school for the 2025 foundation programme. This compares to 75% of the 9,702 applicants in the 2024 foundation programme.