Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for the trend in the level of excess deaths in the last 12 months.

The Department will continue to monitor and report on levels of excess deaths. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities regularly publishes estimates of excess mortality in England. They adjust for population growth and ageing. This provides further insight on the causes of death driving the excess mortality over the last 12 months.

Whilst a detailed assessment of trends in the causes of excess deaths is not available, it is likely that a combination of factors has contributed, including high flu prevalence, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19, and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

On 24 January 2023, the Government announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy and an interim report will be published in the summer. The strategy will set out a strong and coherent policy agenda that sets out a shift to integrated, whole-person care. The strategy will tackle conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England including, cancers, cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, dementia, mental ill health and musculoskeletal conditions. Interventions set out in the strategy will aim to alleviate pressure on the health system, as well as support the government’s objective to increase healthy life expectancy and reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity.