Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the date by which they will have robust data on the number of deaths from COVID-19 that occur outside of hospitals.

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

Dear Lord Mawson,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking for the date by which robust data on the number of deaths from COVID-19 that occur outside of hospitals will be available (HL3417).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for producing a weekly report on the provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales including deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19)[1]. As part of this report, data is published for deaths registered where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate by place of occurrence, which includes places outside of hospitals such as care homes or the home of the deceased. Additionally, on 28 April, the ONS published data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on the number of deaths in care homes involving COVID-19[2]. Going forward, data from the CQC will be published alongside the weekly report.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/previousReleases

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/numberofdeathsincarehomesnotifiedtothecarequalitycommissionengland