UK Mortality Rates

Baroness Wheeler Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2023 Grand Committee

[Baroness Wheeler (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for securing this debate and for his comprehensive introduction on the context and key findings of the study. I also congratulate the authors on an authoritative piece of work underlining, in particular, the disproportionate affect that austerity has had on women, with a greater financial impact and the loss of key support across vital health, social welfare, housing and education services. I also welcome the Minister and look forward to his maiden speech and response to the debate, and to working with him in the future.

As noble Lords have said, this debate is timely, especially in view of the shocking figures from the ONS, which were discussed in your Lordships’ House earlier this week and were the subject of a brutal analysis on the front page of yesterday’s Times. Some 50,000 more people than normal died over the past 12 months and there were 1,600 more deaths during Christmas week, as the long wait for ambulances, cold weather and surging flu infections took their toll. Excluding the two pandemic years, 2022 was one of the worst years on record, despite the Government continuing to cite the pandemic as the main source and cause of the dire problems we face. I understand that, today, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is publishing its excess death report on the causes that have contributed to these deaths. Can the Minister update the Committee on this and provide further insight to help us understand the extent of the crisis and the actions the Government need to take?

The study ranges across key community care and health inequalities, which have been ably covered by other speakers in this short debate. I look forward to the Minister’s response to the thoughtful and expert questions that have been raised. The study shows the adverse changes in mortality rates in the UK from the early 2010s onwards, with increasing death rates among more deprived areas, which the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of London and other noble Lords spoke very forcefully about, particularly in relation to the work of the Black and Marmot reviews.

The study adds to the growing evidence of the deeply worrying changes to mortality trends in the UK, with a clarion call from the study’s authors to the Government to reverse harmful austerity policies and to instead implement measures that protect the most vulnerable in society. I look forward to the Minister’s response on this.

I have spoken many times on the adverse effect of austerity measures on women, as have noble Lords from across the House. These are clearly set out in the study: women are recipients of huge cuts in social security as lone parents, the carers of children, the elderly, people with disabilities and single pensioners without joint incomes. The axing of and cuts to vital public services in which women are employed, or which support families and caring activities, compound the impact on women and their physical and mental health.

I commend the excellent work of the Women’s Budget Group, which reinforces the extent to which public services have been weakened by 10 years of austerity going into the global pandemic in 2020. Its impact was reinforced by the statistics from my noble friend Lord Sikka and others. Government spending on public services as a share of GDP decreased from 47% to 40% in 2019, and central government funding for councils in England was cut by over 49% between 2010 and 2017-18. The group’s work with the Runnymede Trust showed just how austerity hit particular groups of women hard, especially black and ethnic minority women.

The JECH study refers to the intersectionality of gender, poverty and ethnicity in assessing and quantifying the impact of the cuts. For example, comparisons among the poorest of the population showed that white women lost 11% of their income compared with 8% of poor men, but for black and ethnic groups this was 14% and 9% respectively. Can the Minister tell the Committee what cross-government work is being undertaken to ensure joined-up work to address this?

I will focus especially on those with learning difficulties. The learning disabilities mortality review sets out the stark reality of the impact of increasing mortality rates on this key group. Currently, men with a learning disability die on average 22 years younger, and women 26 years younger, than their peers among the general population. Only four in 10 people with a learning disability live to see their 65th birthday, and in 2021 a shocking 49% of reported deaths were avoidable. Some 1,200 people die avoidably every year when timely access to good-quality healthcare could have saved them. These inequalities are national and systemwide, with huge regional differences in how services meet their needs. For example, those living in the north-west and the Midlands are at greater risk of avoidable deaths. Can the Minister explain what action the Government are taking to address the specific barriers to receiving good-quality healthcare for people with learning disabilities, regionally and nationally?

Finally, the charity Mencap has stressed the vital role that the GP learning disability register plays in raising awareness, but less than one-third of the estimated 1.2 million people in England with learning difficulties are recorded on it. Crucially, the register helps doctors and healthcare staff to understand the support needs of this key group. Mencap has called for a national campaign to increase the numbers on the register. It has also produced specific guidance to explain its value, aimed at black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. What steps are the Government taking to support the increased use of the GP register and ensure that GP surgeries actively encourage sign-up?

This has been an excellent and very thorough debate. I look forward to the Minister’s response.