A number of constituents have contacted me about excess deaths.

Although I did not attend the Backbench Business debate, I know from speaking to Ministerial colleagues that the Government is taking steps to reduce excess deaths (the number of deaths above the five-year average), including those which involve Covid-19. While the Government acknowledges an increase in the number of excess deaths, these have been attributed to a combination of factors.

Safe and effective vaccines have underpinned the Government’s strategy for living with Covid-19 and remain the first line of defence. Each vaccine has been assessed by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), following rigorous procedures to ensure they meet the necessary high standards for safety and efficacy.

ONS data published in August 2023 shows that people who have had a Covid-19 vaccine have a lower mortality rate than those who have not been vaccinated. Although it is true to say that amongst people who have died in the last three years, there are some people who have received a Covid vaccination, when 93.6 percent of the population have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, there will be a high number of vaccinated people in the excess death numbers. This is prevalence, not causality. There is no evidence, according to the ONS, linking excess deaths to the Covid-19 vaccine. It is important to look at the causes of excess deaths and to tackle them.

The disruption in the healthcare sector caused by Covid-19 has had a significant impact on those people who were living with cancer and other major conditions. The Government is taking steps to reduce excess deaths due to these conditions. This includes committing the NHS to delivering 9 million additional treatments and diagnostic procedures over the next three years. The government is also investing £17 million in the new NHS digital health check, aiming to offer up to 1 million additional checks in the first 4 years. The Government is also investing in a Major Conditions Strategy to tackle conditions such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases, that contribute the most to mortality in the population. A combination of these strategies should help the Government to deliver on its focus of reducing excess deaths.