Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of (a) the accuracy of officially reported numbers of opioid related deaths and (b) the potential implications for his policies.

The Department is aware of several limitations that apply to drug-related death statistics. These include the limitation that figures reported for specific substances are undercounts as it is not always possible to determine which drugs were involved from information provided on death certificates. This is a limitation the Office for National Statistics acknowledges in their drug poisoning statistical publications. However, drug related deaths where the specific substances involved have not been recorded are still included within overall counts of drug poisonings, which the Department also monitors. Furthermore, it is clear from the deaths where sufficient information is known that opioids are involved in a substantial majority of drug-related deaths in England. This understanding underpins our policy decisions.