FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3941
You asked
Please supply how many children have died since the pandemic began and break that down by age range until this current date in time (23/02/2022).
We said
Thank you for your enquiry
We hold the following analysis Single year of age and average age of death of people whose death was due to or involved COVID-19. This analysis provides monthly all cause and COVID-19 deaths by single year of age.
Data is available from March 2020 to January 2022. February 2022 data will be published on 24 March.
As such, the information you have requested for February 2022 is considered exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. Furthermore, as a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.
If you have any further enquiries about this request, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.