Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 6 February 2023 (HL4993), what plans they have to launch an evidence-led investigation into why more people are dying unexpectedly than normal.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is already working closely with the Office for National Statistics to understand excess deaths. Deaths involving acute respiratory infections (including influenza and pneumonia) are likely to explain many of the excess deaths in the four week period to 27 January 2023. There were 3,389 more deaths involving acute respiratory infections than expected. Deaths involving all cardiovascular diseases were 12% higher than expected during the four week period to 27 January 2023, while deaths involving heart failure were 21% higher than expected. The Government is taking a range of actions to address excess deaths, including preparing for the challenge of variants of COVID-19 and respiratory infections, with an integrated COVID-19 booster and flu vaccination programme. We will be announcing details of our action on cardiovascular diseases in the forthcoming Major Conditions Strategy.