Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in life expectancy.

Public Health England (PHE) was commissioned by the Department in 2018 to review trends in life expectancy and mortality in England. PHE’s review was released on 11 December 2018 and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recent-trends-in-mortality-in-england-review-and-data-packs

The review summarises the findings from the commission and suggests further work that could be undertaken, by PHE or others. It provides a review of official data to advance understanding of the trends in life expectancy and mortality in England, as well as more detail on specific population groups and specific causes of death, including insight into possible explanations for the trends observed.