Various questions relating to Covid-19: FOI release

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002


Information requested

1. The number of people who have died (as a result of Covid-19) in Scotland in each of the following age groups:
a) 0 - 9 up to the day before the 10th birthday
b) 10 - 19 up to the day before the 20th birthday
c) 20 - 29 up to the day before the 30th birthday
d) 30 - 39 up to the day before the 40th birthday
e) 40 - 49 up to the day before the 50th birthday
f) 50 - 59 up to the day before the 60th birthday
g) 60 - 69 up to the day before the 70th birthday
h)70 - 79 up to the day before the 80th birthday
i) 80 - 89 up to the day before the 90th birthday
j) 90 - 99 up to the day before the 100th birthday
k) 100 - 109 up to the day before the 110th birthday
l) 110 - 119 up to the day before the 120th birthday;

2. The percentage that each of these Covid-19 deaths represents of all deaths in each of these tenyear life groupings;

3. The percentage of all Covid-19 deaths in each of these ten-year life groupings where other health conditions which were a factor in the deaths, e.g. obesity, heart disease. high blood pressure, cancer, lung disease (including lung cancer and asthma), diabetes, etc.;

4. A breakdown of all monies provided each of the Pharmaceutical Companies involved in providing the Scottish NHS with:
a) The 1st vaccine
b) The 2nd vaccine
c) The 1st 'booster' vaccine
All of the above up to and including the 31st of December 2021;

5(a): The cost to date of all Covid-19 Testing Kits;

5(b): the cost of all Covid-19 protective equipment provided NHS staff and Care Home staff.

Response

1 - 3. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because National Records of Scotland (NRS) are responsible for publishing Scotland's vital event statistics, including COVID-19 deaths.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

However, you may wish to contact NRS at statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk, who may be able to help you.

Although we do not hold the information requested, please see below information that may be of interest to you.

NRS publish the weekly number of deaths involving Covid-19 by age-group in their weekly report. You can find the latest data, up to 16 January 2022 on Table 1 here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/covid19/covid-deaths-22-data-week-02.xlsx. However, the age-groups in Table 1 do not correspond to the ones specified in your request.

NRS publish the weekly number of all cause death registrations in Scotland by sex and age group in the same report. You can find the latest data, up to 16 January 2022 on Table 4 here:
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/covid19/covid-deaths-22-data-week-02.xlsx. However, the age-groups in Table 4 do not correspond to the ones specified in your request.

NRS publish a breakdown of the top-5 leading causes of deaths in their monthly report. The latest data, including deaths registered between March 2020 and December 2021, includes the number of deaths for which the leading cause of death was Covid-19 as a percentage of all deaths. You can see this data on the tab “Figure 6 data” in the latest NRS’ monthly report, available here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/covid19/covid-deaths-22-data-monthly-week-02.xlsx.

However, this data is not broken down by age-group.

NRS publish the number of deaths involving COVID-19 by pre-existing conditions and by age group, The latest data, covering the period between March 2020 to December 2021 is available from this link: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/covid19/weekly-deaths-pre-existing-conditions-by-age.xlsx. Pre-existing conditions are defined as a health condition mentioned on the death certificate which either came before Covid-19 or was an independent contributory factor in the death. Where only Covid-19 was recorded on the death certificate, or only Covid-19 and subsequent conditions caused by Covid-19 were recorded, these deaths are referred to as having no pre-existing conditions. The data above is shown by small age groups but the oldest age-group available is 90+.

Please note that NRS is responsible for all the above data. Therefore, please contact NRS at statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk if you need more information on this data.

4. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because of exemption under section 33(1)(b) (Substantial prejudice to commercial interests) of FOISA applies to that information.

5(a). While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because National Services Scotland (NSS) are responsible for the purchase of testing kits used at NHS tests facilities and the UK government is responsible for the tests conducted at UK Government tests sites.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

However, you may wish to contact NSS for the cost of testing kits conducted by NHS Scotland, and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for the cost of testing kits used at UK government tests facilities, who might be able to help. Please contact NSS at nss.foi@nhs.scot and UKHSA at enquiries@ukhsa.gov.uk.

5(b). While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. Covid-19 Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE (which comprises items detailed in the Audit Scotland Report found using the link supplied later in this reply) is supplied by NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). Scottish Government does not, therefore, hold details of the cost of provision to NHS and Care Home staff up to a specific date.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

However, you may wish to contact National Services Scotland, who might be able to help, at nss.foi@nhs.scot.

Although we do not hold the information requested, please see below information that that may be of interest to you.

The Audit Scotland report Covid-19: Personal protective equipment gives details in terms of units supplied, sectors supplied and average costs of PPE from March 2020 to April 2021. You can access it here: https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2021/briefing_210617_ppe.pdf.

In addition, the Scottish Government publish weekly management information provided by NSS (on the https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-ppe-distribution-statistics/#page-top) where the number of items of PPE which have been issued since the start of the pandemic to Health and Social Care by NSS can be seen.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

Contact

Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000

The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

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