FOI reference: FOI-2025-2991
You asked
I would like to obtain data relating to alcohol and drug substance–related harm in the United Kingdom, specifically within South Asian communities.
Please provide the following information, if available:
1. The number of alcohol and substance–related deaths recorded annually over the past five years (including the most recent year available), broken down by:
- Ethnicity: Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and any other recorded South Asian subcategories.
- Religion: Where recorded, e.g., Muslim, Sikh, Hindu.
- Gender: Male and female.
- Geographical region: If available, by NHS Trust, local authority, or Integrated Care System.
2. The number of individuals from South Asian backgrounds referred to alcohol or drug rehabilitation or recovery services (including inpatient/outpatient treatment, counselling, or peer recovery programs), also broken down by:
- Ethnicity
- Religion (where recorded)
- Gender
- Region
- Year (for the past five years)
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, this is driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration. National Records Scotland (NRS) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk, respectively.
Unfortunately, we do not hold analysis of drugs and alcohol related deaths by ethnicity. This information would need to be created and, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, public authorities are not obliged to create new information to respond to FOI requests.
Ethnicity has been included on the death certificate since 9 September 2024, following the introduction of the new medical certificates of cause of death (MCCD) as part of Death Certification Reform. Because of registration delays, we currently do not hold enough data to offer bespoke analysis at this stage. However, we would be happy to look into producing bespoke analysis in the future, once we have more information to produce robust analysis. Please also note, we would be unable to create an output at the geographic level requested as this could allow individuals to be identified. We can explore how the data can be aggregated to reduce this risk when engaging with you on this in the future. If you wish to explore this option, please get in touch with our Health team at Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.
Unfortunately, we do not hold data on alcohol and drug treatment referral. NHS England may be better placed to answer your enquiry regarding English data, and they can be contacted on england.contactus@nhs.net.