FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3963
You asked
Please supply the annual death rates for 2021 as follows:
The mortality rate per thousand of the population
The age standardised mortality rate per thousand of the population
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Monthly Age Standardised Mortality Rates are available for 2021 as part of our Monthly Mortality Analysis publication. This is based on provisional data and is subject to change
Annual deaths and rates for England and Wales in 2021 will be published in July 2022 as part of our Deaths Registered Series. This is to allow the inclusion of late registrations which are deaths which have been referred for Coroner Investigation and to use finalised mid-year population estimates.
As such, the information you have requested for annual deaths and ASMRs in 2021 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.