FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3953
You asked
Please supple the following information between 2015 and 2021:
Number of people who died in Greater Manchester due to suicide
Number of people who died in Greater Manchester where indoor smoking was a contributory factor
Number of people who died in Greater Manchester solely from PM10, PM2.5, N02 pollution
Number of people who died in Greater Manchester where PM10, PM2.5 or N02 pollution particles were a contributory factor
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
ONS are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, which is based on the information collected at death registration.
Deaths by suicide
Numbers of suicides by local authority (including all local authorities within Manchester) for England and Wales, 1981 to 2020 are available in our Suicides in England and Wales publication. The excel reference tables are available to access directly, here.
Please note, suspected suicide deaths are investigated by a coroner in what's known as an inquest. The amount of time it takes to hold an inquest causes a delay between the date of death and the date of death registration, referred to as a registration delay. Registration delays for deaths caused by suicide tend to be 5 to 6 months on average. More information about the impact of registration delays is available here.
Due to registration delays we do not release provisional suicide data for local authorities. Suicide statistics for local authorities for 2021 will be published in September 2022. When a release date is finalised, it will be announced via our release calendar.
As such, the information you have requested for 2021 is considered exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. Furthermore, as a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.
Deaths caused by smoking or pollution
From the causes listed on the death certificate, an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules. The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:
a) the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or
b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury
Detailed information about cause of death coding can be found in our User Guide to Mortality Statistics (Section 9).
Smoking status and pollution are not recorded on the death certificate; therefore, we do not hold this information. We hold information on deaths that were caused by a smoking or pollution related illness. However, we do not hold a standard definition of these smoking or pollution related disease and the information provided on the death certificate is not enough to prove a definite link between them.
Numbers of deaths by underlying cause, sex, five-year age group and area of usual residence (including all local authorities within Manchester) for England and Wales, 2013 to 2020, are available via the NOMIS webservice.
Please follow these instructions to use this service:
- Select the geography - (England and Wales, regional or by local authority)
- Select Age - All ages or 5-year age bands
- Select Gender - Total or Male/Female
- Select rates - All deaths, rates, or percentage of population for example.
- Select cause of death (ICD10 code search is available)
- Select format (Excel or CSV for example)
Latest provisional death registration data for England and Wales, 2021 and 2022, are available in our weekly deaths and monthly mortality analysis publications. Data for 2021 and 2022 are still provisional, so full cause of death information is not yet published. Finalised death registration data for 2021 will be released in July 2022 in our Deaths Registered Series and NOMIS.
If you would like to discuss this request further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.