Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to provide official public reporting on the number of health and care workers who have died from covid-19; what steps he is taking to collect, record and report on health and care worker deaths accurately and transparently; and if he will make a statement.

The number of National Health Service worker deaths is verified from direct reports from NHS employing organisations and the number of individuals identified as deceased healthcare workers by non-NHS organisations. This information is investigated and triangulated by NHS England to give a high level of confidence of validity. The Department of Health and Social Care is working with NHS England, devolved administrations and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to develop improved figures.

For care workers, the Government is using data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This analysis is publicly available and can be found on the ONS website at the following link:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19relateddeathsbyoccupationenglandandwales/deathsregistereduptoandincluding20april2020

The Government has been working closely with the social care sector for some time to build a more comprehensive picture of social care workers who have died. In addition to ONS data, we are asking social care employers to inform the Department when a care worker dies from COVID-19, so that the appropriate steps can be taken. These include supporting the families and employers of those who have died and allowing the opportunity for commemorative actions, depending on the family and employer’s wishes. Information about this process can be found on GOV.UK at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-informing-dhsc-of-the-death-of-a-worker-in-social-care