Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many deaths occurred in each of the last 12 months where the cause of death was listed as COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Rt Hon. the Lord Hain
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
20 October 2023
Dear Lord Hain,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many deaths occurred in each of the last 12 months where the cause of death was listed as COVID-19 (HL10538).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing statistics on deaths registered in England and Wales [1]. Figures for Scotland [2] and Northern Ireland [3] are the responsibility of National Records for Scotland and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, respectively.
Causes mentioned on the death certificate are converted to International Classification of Diseases 10th edition (ICD-10) codes, with the underlying cause of death defined as the disease or injury that initiated the events that directly lead to the death. The ICD-10 codes for COVID-19 are U07.1, U07.2, U10.9, U09.9.
Table 1 shows the number of deaths due to COVID-19 registered in England and Wales by month registered between October 2022 and September 2023.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: Deaths due to COVID-19 by month and year of registration, England and Wales, registered October 2022 and September 2023 [4,5,6,7,8].
Month of registration | Deaths due to COVID-19 |
October 2022 | 1,648 |
November 2022 | 1,355 |
December 2022 | 1,204 |
January 2023 | 2,321 |
February 2023 | 1,240 |
March 2023 | 1,836 |
April 2023 | 1,351 |
May 2023 | 868 |
June 2023 | 516 |
July 2023 | 222 |
August 2023 | 438 |
September 2023 | 674 |
Source: Office for National Statistics
[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/
[2] https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths
[3] https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/births-deaths-and-marriages/deaths
[4] Figures are for deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring in each period.
[5] Figures are based on provisional data.
[6] Figures include the deaths of usual residents of England and Wales as well as those of nonresidents.
[7] Figures are based on deaths where COVID-19 (ICD-10 codes U07.1, U07.2, U10.9, U09.9) was the underlying cause of death.
[8] Deaths due to COVID-19 refers to deaths where COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death. The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they made before announcing the decision to continue recognition of the EU's CE mark for many UK companies, replacing plans for the mandatory introduction of the UK Conformity Assessment in 2024.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel
The Government’s engagement with businesses and organisations in the UK and internationally informed the decision to continue CE recognition of goods on the UK market for regulations owned by the Department for Business and Trade.
The government continues to engage with industry, both domestically and internationally. Businesses and trade associations repeatedly expressed significant concerns with the duplicative costs for placing goods on EU and UK markets, and the lack of business-readiness for compliance with mandatory UK Conformity Assessment, which potentially may have resulted in product shortages in GB or increased costs to GB consumers. Extending CE recognition will help in mitigating these challenges.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether post-Brexit arrangements include recognition by the EU of UK testing facilities for conformity assessment of products; and why some UK firms now need to seek approval from the EU for goods destined only for the UK market.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel
For most products being placed on the market in Great Britain (GB), products can comply with either GB or EU product regulations. UK Conformity Assessment Bodies can continue to certify goods for the UK market.
The EU does not recognise UK testing facilities for conformity assessment of products. Nevertheless, the UK is committed to exploring available avenues that could facilitate acceptance of EU-UK conformity assessment results and support British businesses.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the use of both the UK Conformity Assessment mark and the EU’s CE mark will be allowed indefinitely for UK companies in the electronic, industrial, consumer and other sectors, but not for construction products produced in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As my Rt. Honourable friend the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities set out in his statement of 20 April 2023, the Government is developing proposals for reform of the UK's construction product regime to ensure it is effective in promoting safety and inspires public and market confidence.
Our reforms, which we will set out in due course, will set out the future approach to product marking for construction products. In the meantime, recognition of CE marking will continue until the end of June 2025.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the use of both the UK Conformity Assessment mark and the EU’s CE mark will be allowed indefinitely for UK companies in the electronic, industrial, consumer and other sectors, but not for medical products produced in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Medical devices are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and are considered high-risk goods. The Government has put in place legislation to extend the acceptance of CE marked medical devices on the Great Britain market up to 2028 or 2030, depending on the type of CE certificate held.
In addition, the MHRA are currently developing proposals for an international recognition framework. This would reduce, where safe to do so, barriers to medical devices entering the Great Britain market where they have already demonstrated to other trusted regulators that they meet our essential requirements.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why post-Brexit import checks on food and fresh produce from the EU have been delayed for the fifth time.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) has been developed following extensive engagement with the border industry and businesses across the UK. It incorporates feedback from the Draft BTOM which was published in April 2023. In response to this feedback, the Government has agreed a small delay of 3 months to the introduction of remaining sanitary and phytosanitary controls, which will now be introduced in January 2024. This has the benefit of giving stakeholders additional requested time to prepare for the model.
The Government remains committed to delivering the most effective border, and the BTOM is key to achieving this.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have had any discussions with the governments of (1) the US, (2) Germany, (3) Japan, and (4) other relevant countries, about companies in those countries supplying arms materials to the government of Myanmar for the construction of its weapons.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Since the coup in Myanmar, the UK has led global efforts to reduce the flow of weapons to Myanmar through coordinating multilateral statements. The UK has kept the Myanmar issue on the G7 agenda, securing strong public commitments from G7 member states to tackle the flow of arms and equipment to Myanmar. We have also spearheaded efforts to impose sanctions on arms dealers and the military's own domestic production, in close coordination with the US, EU and Canada. We will continue to engage with our partners on how we can target the military's access to arms and to take coordinated action where appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether any British companies are supplying arms materials to the government of Myanmar for the construction of its weapons.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK has had a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar since 2013, which prohibits the supply of dual-use items, including technology and manufacturing equipment, to the Myanmar military. We take a rigorous approach to due diligence in relation to our arms embargo, including enhanced military end-use controls for items destined for the military and security forces. We have also established the Myanmar Witness programme, which monitors weapons exports to Myanmar using open-source intelligence. We have found no evidence of British companies selling weapons or dual use goods to Myanmar. We will continue to take coordinated action to halt the military's access to arms and lobby countries who sell weapons to the military.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to investigate British companies involved in supplying aviation fuel to the armed forces of the government of Myanmar; and what sanctions, if any, they are considering for such companies.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
On 28 February 2022, the UK updated its Overseas Business Risk Guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-business-risk-myanmar-burma/overseas-business-risk-myanmar-burma to make it clear UK businesses should conduct thorough supply chain due diligence to ensure that commodities, such as aviation fuel do not reach the Myanmar military. Amnesty International's thorough report on the aviation fuel supply chain in Myanmar indicates that no British companies are involved in supplying aviation fuel to the armed forces. The UK has been clear that we oppose the provision of jet fuel, arms, military equipment, and dual use items to Myanmar which are used to facilitate human rights violations. We cannot speculate on future sanctions designations but we are looking at a range of further targets and other measures.
Asked by: Lord Hain (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they are taking to prevent British companies from providing insurance services to vessels delivering aviation fuel to the government of Myanmar.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
On 28 February 2022, the UK updated its Overseas Business Risk Guidance https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-business-risk-myanmar-burma/overseas-business-risk-myanmar-burma to make it clear UK businesses should conduct thorough supply chain due diligence to ensure that commodities, such as aviation fuel do not reach the Myanmar military. Amnesty International's thorough report on the aviation fuel supply chain in Myanmar indicates that no British companies are involved in supplying aviation fuel to the armed forces. The UK has been clear that we oppose the provision of jet fuel, arms, military equipment, and dual use items to Myanmar which are used to facilitate human rights violations. We cannot speculate on future sanctions designations but we are looking at a range of further targets and other measures.