Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government why COVID-19 has been placed in the same Office for National Statistics reporting group as influenza; and, given that decision, why the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations is being treated differently to the provision of influenza vaccinations.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Noble Peer’s Parliamentary Question of 29 March is attached in the answer.

The Rt Hon. the Lord Mendelsohn

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

31 March 2023

Dear Lord Mendelsohn,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking why COVID-19 has been placed in the same Office for National Statistics reporting group as influenza; and, given that decision, why the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations is being treated differently to the provision of influenza vaccinations (HL7017).

In answering this Parliamentary Question, we have answered under the assumption that you are referring to our Influenza and other respiratory viruses pilot study, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK: October 2022 to February 2023 [1] release of 27 March 2023.

The Covid-19 Infection Survey published its final release on 24 March 2023 as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works to confirm its approach to infection surveillance. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) plans to work with existing survey participants to continue gathering valuable insight into the experiences of COVID-19, long-COVID and other respiratory infections. In the immediate future this will gather data such as symptoms that people are experiencing but will not include testing for infectious diseases.

From October 2022 to February 2023, the ONS used a small sample from the Covid-19 Infection Survey to pilot the feasibility of testing participants for other respiratory infections and its report was published on 27 March 2023. This pilot study separately reported experimental results on the number of participants who tested positive for influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) while the latest Covid-19 infection results were reported in the regular statistical bulletin (released on Fridays at noon) [2].

The ONS has announced no plans on the future reporting of data on respiratory infections. In terms of the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations, this would fall under the remit of the UKHSA who are responsible for vaccination policy in the UK.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/articles/influenzaandotherrespiratoryvirusespilotstudycoronaviruscovid19infectionsurveyuk/october2022tofebruary2023

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/24march2023