Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Care Quality Commission on collection and publication of data on mortality rates of over 75s in mental health trusts.

The Department’s ministers and officials meet with representatives of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on a regular basis to discuss a wide range of issues, including mental health.

Currently, the CQC monitors various aspects of the mortality rate for over 75s. This age threshold was applied to take account of age within the analysis of indicators which relate to deaths that may have resulted from physical health problems, given that deaths due to natural causes are likely to increase with age.

The CQC are planning further work in 2016 to develop its approach to monitoring mortality among people in contact with trusts that provide mental health services.