Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans the Government has to include smoking as a contributory factor on death certificates.

Doctors are required under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 to complete the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) to the best of their knowledge and belief. Internationally accepted guidance from the World Health Organization requires only those conditions that contributed directly to the death to be recorded on the death certificate, and whether a condition contributed is a matter for their clinical judgement.

Under United Kingdom and international standards, risk factors or behaviours such as smoking are not normally included on the MCCD, because these are not medical conditions.