Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the statistics for deaths from COVID-19 in local authority areas are based on the home addresses of the people who have died or the location in which they die.

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

Dear Lord Greaves,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking whether the statistics for deaths from COVID-19 in local authority areas are based on the home addresses of the people who have died or the location in which they die (HL5296).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. The most recent annual figures published are for deaths registered in 2018[1]. However, we do publish provisional weekly deaths registrations, which are currently published for deaths registered up to 29 May 2020[2]. We publish information at the local authority and health board regional levels as a dataset[3] alongside the weekly deaths bulletin.

ONS mortality statistics are based on information recorded when deaths are certified and registered. Details of the usual residence of the deceased are supplied by the informant to the registrar. In our publications, the local authority breakdowns are based on the place of usual residence of the individual. Therefore, if the death occurred in a different geographical location to the deceased’s usual residence, their death would be included within the number reported for the local authority relating to their usual address. The place of death (hospital, care home, home, etc.) is reported as recorded on the death certificate. More information is available in our Mortality Statistics User Guide[4].

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/deathsregisteredinenglandandwalesseriesdrreferencetables

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/latest

[3]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/datasets/deathregistrationsandoccurrencesbylocalauthorityandhealthboard

[4]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/methodologies/userguidetomortalitystatisticsjuly2017#area-coverage