You asked
I would like to submit a FOI request for an update on a previous request you responded to on 22 October 2020, COVID-19 deaths with no underlying health conditions, broken down by age. We would like to request for this to be updated to include the most recent data available.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
For January to July 2020, this information is available in our Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) publication. Table 6a shows deaths involving COVID and pre-existing conditions for ages 0-44 and then 5-year age bands after the age of 45.
We hold the following analysis, Pre-existing conditions of people who died due to COVID-19, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics, which provides deaths from COVID-19 broken down by pre-existing condition and broad age group from January 2020 to December 2020 in the dataset in table 2. 2021 data will be published in May/June 2021. As such, this analysis of 2021 data 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.