FOI Ref: FOI/2021/2781
You asked
Please provide the reasoning as to why the statistical analysis from yourselves was changed in Sept 2020, so occupation was no longer included and the numbers of teachers being infected with SARS-Cov-2, being hospitalised because of the infection and dying of SARS-Cov-2 ceased to be available.
Please provide a breakdown of infection rates by occupation/industry, scaled by days worked per annum.
Please provide the data showing how many children, teenagers and educational staff are now suffering from long covid.
Please provide the data showing how many CV & CEV teachers have resigned, taken early retirement and medical retirement.
These requests include any documented data and guidance from PHE & WHO, any documented discussions between Government departments and any information as to why the data relating to the above questions has not been made public.
We said
Thank you for your request.
The COVID-19 Infection Survey is a household survey that estimates the number of people testing positive for infection in the UK. Our statistics refer to individuals in the community, by which we mean private households. These figures exclude infections reported in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings.
The COVID-19 Infection Survey does not provide analysis looking at infections alongside hospitalisations and deaths by occupation. However, we have published data on infection rates by occupation periodically. You can find our most recent data on likelihood of testing positive for COVID-19 by occupation in our characteristics article on 22 February 2021 and in the accompanying dataset on tab 1a.
We also produced analysis showing COVID-19 deaths by occupation from 9 March to 28 December 2020: Coronavirus (COVID-19) related deaths by occupation, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). This is the latest data available. This occupational analysis is not a regular release and the decision was taken to publish during the height of the pandemic. As the deaths have decreased, disaggregating by age, sex, specific cause and occupation raises concerns with disclosure due to the small numbers involved per occupational SOC code.
Infection rates by occupation/industry, scaled by days worked per annum
Unfortunately, we do not hold analysis scaled by days worked per annum. In order to provide this information, we would need to create bespoke analysis. Under the freedom of information act, public bodies are not required to create bespoke analysis in order to respond to FOI requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
However, the aforementioned COVID-19 infection rates by occupation articles and datasets may be of interest to you.
Children, teenagers and educational staff suffering from long COVID-19
The COVID-19 Schools Infection Survey (SIS) investigates the presence of current COVID-19 infection and the presence of SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) antibodies among pupils and staff in sampled primary and secondary schools in England. Repeated surveys are carried out to collect risk factor information and COVID-19 experience together with virus and antibody samples in a cohort of pupils and staff.
We collected information about long COVID-19 from respondents as part of the final round of this survey. We are currently analysing the data with the intention to publish at a later date. 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.
Please provide the data showing how many CV & CEV teachers have resigned, taken early retirement and medical retirement
We do not collect data on resignation and retirement. The Department for Work and Pensions may be better placed to help with this enquiry. You can submit a Freedom of Information request with them here.
These requests include any documented data and guidance from PHE & WHO, any documented discussions between Government departments and any information as to why the data relating to the above questions has not been made public.
We do not hold data from Public Health England (PHE) or the World Health Organisation (WHO). They will be better placed to respond to queries about their data and can be contacted via email at wn_coronavirus@phe.gov.uk and eupress@who.int respectively.
For further information and an overview of all the data published across the ONS, please check our ONS COVID Insights Tool.