Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many excess deaths there have been in England and Wales in each quarter since 1 January 2020; what were the totals in the years (1) 2020, (2) 2021, (3) 2022, and (4) 2023 to date; and what proportion of deaths where COVID-19 is mentioned on the death certificate have been (a) male, and (b) female.

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 Baroness Hoey

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

14 November 2023

Dear Baroness Hoey,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many excess deaths there have been in England and Wales in each quarter since 1 January 2020; what were the totals in the years (1) 2020, (2) 2021, (3) 2022, and (4) 2023 to date; and what proportion of deaths where COVID-19 is mentioned on the death certificate have been (a) male, and (b) female (HL36).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes statistics on deaths registered in England and Wales. Mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration.

Table 1 provides information on excess deaths by quarter in England and Wales. It also provides the age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) by quarter which is a weighted average of the age-specific mortality rate per 100,000 people. This takes into account the population size and age structure which means comparisons between populations that may contain different proportions of people of different ages can be made.

Table 2 provides information on deaths involving COVID-19 by sex.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number and proportions of excess deaths by quarter, 2020 to 2023 [1] [2] [3]

Source: Office for National Statistics

Table 2: Number and proportions of deaths involving COVID-19 by quarter, 2020 to 2023 [1] [2] [3] [4]

Source: Office for National Statistics

[1] Figures are for deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring, in each period.

[2] Figures include deaths of non-residents.

[3] Figures for 2023 are based on provisional data.

[4] The International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) codes for COVID-19 are U07.1, U07.2, U09.9, U10.9