HC Deb 27 February 1997 vol 291 cc304-5W
Mr. Morgan

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will list the death rate for(a) the weeks ending 3 January, 10 January, 17 January, 24 January and 31 January and (b) the nearest equivalent week in each of the previous five years; [16905]

(2) if he will list for each of the past five years (a) the highest three-weekly death rate recorded by the registrar-general and (b) the average weekly death rate for each January. [16767]

Mrs. Angela Knight

[holding answer 20 February 1997]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Rhodri Morgan, dated 27 February 1997: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question asking how many deaths occurred in (a) the week ending 3rd January, 10th January, 17th January, 24th January and 31st January and (b) the nearest equivalent week in each of the previous five years. The numbers of deaths in England and Wales are provided in Table 1 below.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr Rhodri Morgan, dated 27 February 1997: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question asking if he will list the five most recent occasions prior to 10th January when the weekly deaths recorded in England and Wales exceeded 19,000. This figure is close to the provisional number of death registrations in the week ending January 10th 1997. A search of similar weekly registrations produced the figures listed in the table below.

Week ending: published Recorded number of death registrations in England and Wales, by ONS (OPCS)
January 6th 19621 19,522
January 2nd 19701 25,007
January 9th 19701 20,914
Week ending: published Recorded number of death registrations in England and Wales, by ONS (OPCS)
December 22nd 19891 19,180
January 1st 1994 24,375
1 These figures are from the Registrar-General's Weekly Return which was discontinued in January 1994.
The closure of Register Offices over holiday periods will affect numbers of death registrations. The week following a closure results in offices receiving a backlog of registrations from the previous week. This may contribute to high figures found in the week following a holiday period. I hope this reply has been helpful.