You asked
Can you please provide me with the following information from January 1st 2020 to the most up to date data available.
A figure for all deaths recorded solely as any of the following:
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS)
Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS)
Split into the following age ranges
0-16 years old
16 years old and above
I am specifically looking for data that does not have Coronavirus included in the death certificate.
We said
Thank you for your request for data on deaths for where the cause was sudden infant death, sudden adult death or sudden arrhythmic death syndrome among individuals aged 0-16 years and 16 years and older in 2020.
In England and Wales, deaths where "Sudden Adult Death Syndrome" or "Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome" are mentioned on the death certificate are recorded with an ICD-10 code of R96 or I49.9 respectively. A death certificate of an infant (under 1 year old) which mentions "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome" are coded with ICD-10 code R95.
Sudden Adult and Arrhythmic Death Syndrome
We are responsible for publishing mortality statistics based on deaths registered in England and Wales. The most recent available annual figures broken down by specific ICD-10 code are for deaths registered in 2019, available via the following dataset: 21st Century Mortality. Annual death registration figures broken down by specific ICD-10 code covering 2020 will be finalised and published in the summer of 2021.
Additionally, figures for deaths by age, sex, cause and geography in England and Wales separately for 2019 are available through our explorable data set: NOMIS webservice. This service will also be updated with deaths registered in 2020 once the data are finalised in 2021.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
With regards to statistics on sudden infant deaths, we publish an annual publication on Unexplained deaths in infancy which may be of interest to you. This release is based on infant deaths that occurred in England and Wales in 2018, where the underlying cause was either sudden infant death (ICD-10 code R95) or unascertained (ICD-10 code R99). These figures are based on occurrences data available up to 28 June 2020. The majority of unexplained infant deaths are referred to a coroner to ascertain the reasons for the death, and the time taken to investigate the circumstances of the death can often result in delays to death registration. While registration delays are commonly only a few days, they can occasionally extend into years. Therefore, we extract the data 18 months after the end of the reference year to allow for late death registrations. Data on sudden infant deaths based on date of occurrence covering 2019 will therefore be published in 2021 and data for 2020 will be published in 2022.
Consequently, the information you have requested 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.