FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3151
You asked
Please supply the average age of both males and females that have died with suspected COVID-19, up to the most recent date for which you have data.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry regarding average age of deaths involving COVID-19.
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 provides the monthly average (mean and median) of deaths due to or involving COVID-19 by sex in England and Wales. Data is available from March 2020 to September 2021.
Data for October 2021 will be published on 23 November 2021.
As such, 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.