Figures released yesterday by the British Office of National Statistics have shown that less people are dying from cancer despite the numbers being diagnosed increasing. Less smoking and better diagnosis of diseases have been cited as reasons for the drop in deaths. Catherine Thomson, of Cancer Research UK, said in a statement to press: ‘The good news is that our risk of dying from the disease has fallen. “The reduction in people smoking has helped hugely for many cancers, and we’re better at diagnosing some cancers earlier and at treating them.” The ONS found the highest cancer death rates were in Scotland, where the rate is 15 per cent higher than the British average for men and women. On average, 204 out of every 100,000 males died between 2008 and 2010 of the three most common cancers to affect men – prostate, lung and bowel – down from 229 in 2001-03. Among females, the mortality rate from breast, lung and bowel cancer was 149 per 100,000 in 2008-10, a fall from 160 in 2001-03. However, the report shows that more people are being diagnosed with the disease