Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many care home residents and staff (1) tested positive for, and (2) died as a result of, COVID-19 in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland, and (d) Wales, in (i) November 2020, (ii) December 2020, (iii) January, and (iv) February.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Rt Hon. the Lord Hunt of Kings Heath OBE

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

15 March 2021

Dear Lord Hunt,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many care home residents and staff (1) tested positive for, and (2) died as a result of, COVID-19 in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland, and (d) Wales, in (i) November 2020, (ii) December 2020, (iii) January, and (iv) February (HL14039).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes statistics on deaths registered in England and Wales. Mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration. National Records for Scotland[1] and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency[2] are responsible for publishing statistics on deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

Table 1 below shows the number of deaths involving COVID-19 among care home residents registered for the months November 2020 to February 2021 in England and Wales. The term "care home residents" refers to all deaths where either (a) the death occurred in a care home or (b) the death occurred elsewhere but the place of residence of the deceased was recorded as a care home.

We do not hold any information on the number of care home staff who have died as a result of COVID-19 therefore we are not able to provide this information. The Department of Health and Social Care are responsible for data on care home infections.[3]

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number of deaths involving COVID-19 among care home residents registered from November 2020 to February 2021 in England and Wales[4]^{,[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10]}

Source: Office for National Statistics

[1]https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/

[2]https://www.nisra.gov.uk/

[3]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care

[4] Deaths for England and Wales exclude non-residents.

[5] Figures are provisional for 2020 and 2021.

[6] The International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) definitions are as follows: coronavirus (COVID-19) (U.071, U.072, U.099, U.109).

[7] Deaths "involving COVID-19" includes deaths that have COVID-19 mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as underlying cause or not.

[8] These figures are calculated using the most up-to-date data we have available to get the most accurate estimates.

[9] Based on boundaries as of November 2020.

[10] Based on deaths registered in each calendar month.