Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Official Statistics, Excess mortality in England and English region, updated on 12 January 2023, whether he has made an assessment of trends in the causes of excess deaths over winter 2022/23; and if he will publish a list of the principal causes of excess deaths to date.

Excess deaths are the difference between the actual registered number of deaths and the expected deaths based on data for previous years. There are a wide range of estimates from different bodies including the Office for National Statistics and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), using different methodologies. The OHID estimates of excess mortality published on 12 January 2023 use the trend in mortality rates from 2015 to 2019 to estimate expected deaths. They adjust for population growth and ageing. This provides further insight on the causes of death driving the excess mortality over 2022. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed to excess deaths over winter 2022/23, including high flu prevalence, cold weather, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.