In any given year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office provides information and assistance in around 6,000 cases where a British person has died overseas. Every death is a personal tragedy, and our consular staff aim to provide practical, compassionate and timely support to those affected. We publish detailed country-specific guidance for Spain covering registering a death, the process of post-mortems and navigating local procedures. We work closely with Spanish authorities to help families navigate those processes. Where concerns are raised about systemic issues or significant delays affecting British families, we raise these with the relevant authorities and press them for improvements, including in Spain.

In any given year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office provides information and assistance in around 6,000 cases where a British person has died overseas. Every death is a personal tragedy, and our consular staff aim to provide practical, compassionate and timely support to those affected. We publish detailed country-specific guidance for Spain covering registering a death, the process of post-mortems and navigating local procedures. We work closely with Spanish authorities to help families navigate those processes. Where concerns are raised about systemic issues or significant delays affecting British families, we raise these with the relevant authorities and press them for improvements, including in Spain.

In any given year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office provides information and assistance in around 6,000 cases where a British person has died overseas. Every death is a personal tragedy, and our consular staff aim to provide practical, compassionate and timely support to those affected. We publish detailed country-specific guidance for Spain covering registering a death, the process of post-mortems and navigating local procedures. We work closely with Spanish authorities to help families navigate those processes. Where concerns are raised about systemic issues or significant delays affecting British families, we raise these with the relevant authorities and press them for improvements, including in Spain.

In any given year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office provides information and assistance in around 6,000 cases where a British person has died overseas. Every death is a personal tragedy, and our consular staff aim to provide practical, compassionate and timely support to those affected. We publish detailed country-specific guidance for Spain covering registering a death, the process of post-mortems and navigating local procedures. We work closely with Spanish authorities to help families navigate those processes. Where concerns are raised about systemic issues or significant delays affecting British families, we raise these with the relevant authorities and press them for improvements, including in Spain.

In any given year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office provides information and assistance in around 6,000 cases where a British person has died overseas. Every death is a personal tragedy, and our consular staff aim to provide practical, compassionate and timely support to those affected. We publish detailed country-specific guidance for Spain covering registering a death, the process of post-mortems and navigating local procedures. We work closely with Spanish authorities to help families navigate those processes. Where concerns are raised about systemic issues or significant delays affecting British families, we raise these with the relevant authorities and press them for improvements, including in Spain.

In any given year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office provides information and assistance in around 6,000 cases where a British person has died overseas. Every death is a personal tragedy, and our consular staff aim to provide practical, compassionate and timely support to those affected. We publish detailed country-specific guidance for Spain covering registering a death, the process of post-mortems and navigating local procedures. We work closely with Spanish authorities to help families navigate those processes. Where concerns are raised about systemic issues or significant delays affecting British families, we raise these with the relevant authorities and press them for improvements, including in Spain.

As part of the updated statutory relationships, sex and health education guidance, the curriculum sets out that pupils at secondary age should be taught about blood, organ and stem cell donation.

Whilst organ donation is not a compulsory subject at primary level, schools can incorporate it in an age-appropriate way and use the Oak Academy lesson plans which includes a section on organs, the transplant waiting list and relevant legislation.

As part of the updated statutory relationships, sex and health education guidance, the curriculum sets out that pupils at secondary age should be taught about blood, organ and stem cell donation.

Whilst organ donation is not a compulsory subject at primary level, schools can incorporate it in an age-appropriate way and use the Oak Academy lesson plans which includes a section on organs, the transplant waiting list and relevant legislation.

The Government is committed to increasing the number of living organ donations, including non‑direct altruistic donations (NDAD). NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the organisation responsible for organ donation services across the United Kingdom, is responsible for promoting organ donation in England and Wales. The Northern Ireland and Scottish Governments are responsible for this in their jurisdictions, but messaging is complementary across the UK.

NHSBT undertakes a wide range of activity to promote living donation in England and Wales. Current activity includes:

• providing information for prospective donors through the NHS Organ Donation website, including guidance on NDAD and how donations contribute to the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme, which matches donors and recipients across the UK, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:
  https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/become-a-living-donor/donating-your-kidney/donating-a-kidney-to-someone-you-do-not-know/
  https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/become-a-living-donor/donating-your-kidney/uk-living-kidney-sharing-scheme/;

• sharing real-life living donor stories across NHSBT channels, including social media and the digital donor magazine, to highlight the impact and importance of living donation and to encourage people to learn more about NDAD;

• raising awareness of living donation through national and regional media throughout the year, including a BBC Breakfast interview highlighting the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme and coverage of a nurse who donated a kidney to a stranger through the scheme in May 2026, and a Telegraph feature on altruistic donation in January 2026; and

• community engagement via the Organ Donation Ambassador Programme, partnerships with stakeholder organisations, such as Robert Dangoor Partnership, and National Health Service trusts, and the Community Grants Programme, which funds organisations to engage, educate, and recruit potential donors, particularly within Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Further information on the Community Grants Programme is available at the following link:
  https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/how-you-can-help/get-involved/community-grants-programme/.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for organ donation in the United Kingdom and manages the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).

Deemed consent donors are people who became deceased donors, donating one or more organs, where no decision to donate had been recorded on the NHS ODR, and consent was therefore deemed under the relevant deemed consent legislation, with organ donation proceeding only where the donor’s family were available for consultation. The following table shows the number of deemed consent donors and the number of organs donated by deemed consent donors, both United Kingdom wide, from 2022 to 2025:

Source: NHS Blood and Transplant, using data from the UK Transplant Registry.

Non‑direct altruistic organ donation is managed by NHS Blood and Transplant, which is responsible for organ donation services. Non‑direct altruistic donation involves people donating an organ, such as a kidney or a lobe of liver, as a living donor without knowing the recipient or expecting anything in return. The following table shows the number of non-direct altruistic donations across the United Kingdom, split by organ, namely kidney or liver:

Source: NHS Blood and Transplant, using data from the UK Transplant Registry.

For every financial year since 2016/17, there has been five or less non-direct altruistic liver lobe donations. There has been a total of 14 non-direct altruistic liver lobe donations in the past ten years.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for coding causes of death using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD‑10). This is separate from hospital morbidity coding undertaken within the National Health Service. The response below therefore relates to morbidity coding and applies to cases of attempted suicide and organ failure for patients admitted to hospital alive.

ICD-11 is the International Classification of Diseases for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics, Eleventh Revision, and is not yet approved as an Information Standard under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act, and so ICD‑10 remains the mandated classification for NHS morbidity data.

Under current national coding guidance, all conditions identified in the medical record by the responsible consultant as relevant to the episode of care are coded. Where a clinical link has been established between a psychiatric condition and outcomes such as organ failure or an episode of attempted suicide, each of these conditions is coded in line with this guidance.

The Department has not held discussions with the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) regarding the final report of the Evaluation of the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act 2019.

The Organ Donation Joint Working Group, jointly chaired by the Department and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), made recommendations which ministers have noted, and which action owners are working together to implement. As part of this work, the Department, NHSBT, and HTA have met to discuss the report’s findings and actions. The HTA is currently at an early stage of reviewing its current statutory codes of practice and will revise them where necessary to ensure they remain clear, up to date, and effective.

NHSBT is actively progressing work to ensure that their family approach processes use clear, affirmative language that supports a family’s understanding of their loved one’s recorded donation decision. As part of this, NHSBT are reviewing their operational guidance and training materials for specialist nurses in organ donation to strengthen support offered to families by focussing on building trust and rapport with the family to explore the patient’s beliefs and values as a central reference point for the donation decision, rather than focusing on any last known expressed wishes.

The Department has not held discussions with the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) regarding the final report of the Evaluation of the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act 2019.

The Organ Donation Joint Working Group, jointly chaired by the Department and NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), made recommendations which ministers have noted, and which action owners are working together to implement. As part of this work, the Department, NHSBT, and HTA have met to discuss the report’s findings and actions. The HTA is currently at an early stage of reviewing its current statutory codes of practice and will revise them where necessary to ensure they remain clear, up to date, and effective.

NHSBT is actively progressing work to ensure that their family approach processes use clear, affirmative language that supports a family’s understanding of their loved one’s recorded donation decision. As part of this, NHSBT are reviewing their operational guidance and training materials for specialist nurses in organ donation to strengthen support offered to families by focussing on building trust and rapport with the family to explore the patient’s beliefs and values as a central reference point for the donation decision, rather than focusing on any last known expressed wishes.

National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation in the UK and manages the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR).

NHSBT encourages recording an organ donation decision on the ODR through national campaigns, including case studies from donor families, transplant recipients and patients waiting for a transplant. Where appropriate, NHSBT works with individuals with an established public profile to reach new audiences. NHSBT’s partnerships with the likes of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Association, the passport application process and the NHS App are currently the most effective routes to engaging people to record their decision.

NHSBT also partners with NHS organisations, charities, and community groups, such as the National BAME Transplant Alliance and South Asian Heritage Trust, to increase community engagement. This is supported by NHSBT’s Community Grants Programme, which supports over 30 community and faith/beliefs organisations to leverage their specialist knowledge, understanding and footprint in minority ethnic communities. More information on the Programme is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/how-you-can-help/get-involved/community-grants-programme/

In February 2026, the Organ Donation Joint Working Group, jointly formed by the Department and NHSBT, published recommendations to increase societal action for organ donation, which included actions to maximise the potential of the ODR and encourage more people to record a clear and informed organ donation decision. NHSBT is working with Government and other partners to implement the recommendations, and a five-year programme is being developed to drive further progress.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England and organ donation services across the United Kingdom, including campaigns to promote blood and organ donation in England.

WPP media has been appointed to provide media strategy, planning, and buying services across the Government and the wider public sector. However, there are no planned changes to NHSBT’s blood, plasma, and organ donation campaigns as result of the appointment.

These campaigns will continue to be managed by NHSBT, who appoint a media agency via their own tender process. When the current term expires, NHSBT will review the agency contracts in adherence with public procurement regulations.