Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of climate change on trends in the level of excess deaths.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are updating the evidence base on the health impacts of climate change through producing a United Kingdom focused report, ‘Health Effects of Climate Change in the UK’.

This report will consider a wide range of risks and opportunities of climate change impacts on health, including excess deaths where there is available evidence to determine estimations, as identified by the Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA). It will include an update of the estimates of direct and indirect climate-related health impacts using the UKCP18 climate projections, and reviews of the health impacts of multiple climate-related risks such as temperature, drought, outdoor and indoor air quality, vector-borne diseases, and net zero measures.

The report will inform local and national government and other relevant organisations of the health effects of climate change in the UK and identify research gaps and recommend actions for policy and practice where required. The fourth iteration of the report will be published in September 2023.

The previous report, third report, published in 2012 is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371103/Health_Effects_of_Climate_Change_in_the_UK_2012_V13_with_cover_accessible.pdf