HC Deb 25 October 2001 vol 373 cc376-7W
Mr. Willetts

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many excess winter deaths have occurred in each year since 1979; and what the provisional figures for the winter of 2000–01 are. [9813]

Ruth Kelly

The information falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. David Willetts, dated 24 October 2001: The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking for the number of excess winter deaths since 1979 and for the provisional figures for 2000–01 (9813). I am replying in his absence. The attached table shows these figures. Figures for 2000–2001 are provisional.

Excess winter deaths1, all ages, all causes, England and Wales, 1979–2000, 2000–012
Winter (December to March) Number of deaths
1979–80 330,110
1980–81 332,900
1981–82 342,380
1982–83 342,820
1983–84 330,240
1984–85 347,380
1985–86 349,330
1986–87 326,370
1987–88 332,970
1988–89 321,160
1989–90 347,200
1990–91 337,940
1991–92 334,850
1992–93 325,650
1993–94 325,900
1994–95 327,290
1995–96 340,190
1996–97 347,680
1997–98 322,900
1998–99 346,840
1999–2000 348,440
2000–01 425,000
1 Excess winter deaths are defined by the Office for National Statistics as the difference between the number of deaths during the four winter months (December to March) and the average number of deaths the preceding autumn (August to November) and the following summer (April to July)
2 Provisional
3 Rounded to the nearest 10
4 Provisional, rounded to the nearest 100