The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Lord Chidgey

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

15 December 2021

Dear Lord Chidgey,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking what estimate has been made of the number of people who have died from COVID-19 related conditions at home since the beginning of the first lockdown in March 2020 (HL4828).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing statistics on deaths registered in England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for publishing the number of deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively. Mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration.

Cause of death is defined using the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th edition (ICD-10). Deaths involving COVID-19 are defined by the ICD-10 codes U07.1, U07.2, U09.9 and U10.9.

Table 1 provides the total number of deaths registered and deaths involving COVID-19, in all locations and occurring in private homes, in England and Wales between 28 December 2019 and 26 November 2021. Deaths involving COVID-19 includes any death where COVID-19 was a contributory factor to death, not only as the underlying cause of death. These figures are included in our Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales release[1].

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Total number of deaths registered[1], and deaths registered involving COVID-19[2], occurring in all settings and private homes[3], between 28 December 2019 and 26 November 2021, England and Wales

Source: Office for National Statistics

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/26november2021

[2] Figures are for deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring. More information can be found in the Impact of registrations delay release: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/impactofregistrationdelaysonmortalitystatisticsinenglandandwales/latest

[3] Deaths "involving" a cause refer to deaths that had this cause mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or not.

[4] Deaths include non-residents.

[5]The International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) definitions are as follows: COVID-19 (U07.1, U07.2, U09.9, U10.9).

The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

Since September 2014, the UK alongside allies has been supporting Iraqi Security Forces in their fight against Daesh, as part of a coalition and at the invitation of the Government of Iraq. In addition to training, the UK supports the Iraqi Security Forces with supplies of military equipment. As a result, the UK, has gifted equipment to Iraq.

The equipment to the Iraqi Security Forces has been gifted either directly from the UK MOD, using stock surpluses or through procuring equipment from British Defence Industry. For instance, in 2015 the UK MOD gifted C-IED equipment from surplus stock and more recently the UK gifted outdoor clothing, personal load carriage and chest rig equipment, which was procured from a British Defence Company.

Future provision of support to Iraq will be determined by many factors including the type of equipment required and its availability. Any request for such equipment is judged on a case-by-case basis.

For further details on the equipment gifted to Iraq, please refer to the UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Reports available on gov.uk.

As the Royal Marines transition into the Future Commando Force and turn to new upgraded and autonomous capabilities, there is the potential for the workforce structure to change in the future. Any reduction in personnel will not affect the capability of the Royal Marines to operate across different operational arenas.

The new Ranger Regiment is part of an Army Special Operations Brigade and will receive a share of a £120 million investment over the next four years. It will initially be seeded from the four Specialised Infantry Battalions and in time will become all-arms units capable of supporting and conducting special operations in high-risk environments.

Under the transformation announced by the Secretary of State for Defence, the Army will be more actively and persistently engaged overseas. This does not mean that all deployments will be lengthy and the impact on individuals and their families will be carefully managed under policy designed to ensure that they are not over-stretched. To complement the Army Special Operations Brigade, a Security Force Assistance (SFA) Brigade will also be established and this will form the foundation of the Army's contribution to persistent engagement overseas.

The Army will use spring and early summer 2021 to refine and test the designs, capabilities and structure of its units before making more detailed announcements later this year.

The establishment of a Western Balkans regional training initiative is a further sign of the UK's continuing commitment to the Western Balkans. The initiative will develop our understanding of the training needs of the Armed Forces of the Western Balkans, and improve the way we coordinate and deliver training and capacity building. We aim to ensure the nations of the region can contribute to international security and to increase cooperation. The training cell will be established later this year and discussions are ongoing about what training will be provided.

UK Ministers and officials regularly engage with the African Union on a range of trade related issues, including our support for the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Furthermore, our Parliamentary Reports published alongside signed continuity agreements contain detailed information about the volume of trade, composition of imports and exports, and wider economic impact of agreements. These reports are intended to aid businesses, consumers and parliamentarians in understanding any significant differences made to our trade relationship with partner countries and the reasons for any changes, and their impact.

We will continue to voluntarily lay these Parliamentary Reports, with Explanatory Memoranda, alongside agreements.

UK Ministers and officials regularly engage with the African Union on a range of trade related issues, including our support for the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Furthermore, our Parliamentary Reports published alongside signed continuity agreements contain detailed information about the volume of trade, composition of imports and exports, and wider economic impact of agreements. These reports are intended to aid businesses, consumers and parliamentarians in understanding any significant differences made to our trade relationship with partner countries and the reasons for any changes, and their impact.

We will continue to voluntarily lay these Parliamentary Reports, with Explanatory Memoranda, alongside agreements.

Since 2018, the UK has increased its diplomatic reach by over 350 staff across Africa, including in Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Eswatini and Lesotho. In addition, the UK contributes to international diplomatic efforts, including through its Sahel Envoys and Sahel Alliance networks. We continue to keep under close review the size and location of our network to ensure that it remains appropriate for delivering HMG priorities across Africa within the overall resources available.

The United Kingdom has long supported the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and remains committed to the Paris Climate Agreement, as indicated by HM Government’s target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

As we look toward our future trading relationships with all countries, including those in Africa, HM Government will continue to uphold the United Kingdom’s high environmental standards, and has committed to publishing a full impact assessment of all new free trade agreements alongside the full treaty text at the end of negotiations.

The UK supports inclusive multilateral trade that enables developing countries, including those in Africa, to engage at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

For example, the UK-funded Trade and Investment Advocacy Fund (TAF2+) provided advice to the African, Caribbean and Pacific and Least Developed Country groups, enabling their effective engagement with discussions on digital trade. The programme launched national-level studies in Senegal and Mauritius, helping them develop positions relevant to the WTO E-commerce negotiations.

The UK also co-sponsored a WTO Council for Trade in Services communication, calling on members to share information on activities undertaken to address the digital divide.

At the end of the Transition Period, the United Kingdom will create its Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), which will replicate the three levels of market access provided by the EU’s Scheme. This is the most appropriate way to ensure continuity of trade for the existing 70 countries trading under the EU GSP.

We continue to engage with Ghana and Cameroon; they have each been offered a deal that provides the same trading arrangements as they have today.

The UK continues to negotiate for the whole UK family, which includes Gibraltar. We remain fully committed to finding a solution that supports Gibraltar, its people and its economy.

The UK and the Government of Gibraltar have held a number of constructive discussions with Spain on this issue. It is clearly in all parties' interests to find a solution, to ensure ongoing well-being and prosperity in the region.

DFID’s evaluation approach is underpinned by the principles of transparency, rigour and independence, achieved with skilled analytical staff that have a deep and extensive evaluation experience.

Every DFID programme is subject to an annual review which looks at the performance of partners and DFID, including consideration of Value for Money. These reviews are published. Controls are in place to ensure that costs will be identified and recorded in line with Managing Public Money, including where necessary any write-offs or losses. The anticipated decline in GNI and hence ODA, the impact of covid-19, alongside all other key issues will be disclosed as necessary within the department’s 2020/21 Governance Statement.

We will continue to look at how money can be spent most effectively against our priorities, including through the Integrated Review, and the Spending Review – both of which will inform the priorities of the new Department.

Across East Africa and the Horn of Africa, 25.8 million people are severely food insecure and 1.3 million have been affected by floods since March. The UK has responded to localised flood impacts through the START Network, including provision of relief items and recovery programming.

We are deeply concerned about the food security situation. Heavy rains in the region have provided conditions conducive to the unprecedented locust outbreaks, which will affect the food security situation even further. The UK is supporting the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) emergency appeal to help to control the increase of locusts across East Africa, as well as reduce the risk of swarms spreading into the Sahel.

The humanitarian situation will be exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19. We are urgently redirecting UK aid programmes right across Africa to respond to these compound risks.

The Government is committed to ensuring that every pound spent on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) achieves maximum value for money for taxpayers based on the same high standards of accountability and effectiveness as all areas of public expenditure. Individual departments are responsible under public spending rules for monitoring all public money including their UK aid programming and ensuring that they deliver value for money. Robust parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget will continue – the form that Parliamentary scrutiny takes is for Parliament to decide. UK ODA continues to be spent in accordance with international rules on what constitutes aid as set by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Many bilateral and multilateral aid programmes across Africa have been redirected, prioritising health, humanitarian, growth and trade as well as education and nutrition, recognising that these components are vital both for the immediate response to COVID-19, and for longer-term recovery. The UK has successfully pivoted huge amounts of programming to support nimble and innovative responses in African countries.

For example, in South Sudan, the UK is making a significant contribution to government-led efforts to prevent and respond to cases of COVID-19, including through support for infection prevention and control as well as water, sanitation and hygiene activities. The UK’s flagship Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme (WISH) has been adapted in 24 countries across Africa to ensure the continuation of lifesaving services to marginalised women and girls despite COVID-19. Multilaterally, £20m has been provided towards the African Union’s new COVID-19 response plan which funds and deploys health workers, clinical equipment, and capacity building training to all 55 AU Member States. In 2020, DFID has so far provided USD 254million to support the World Food Programme’s operations – this includes a USD 19million contribution to The World Food Programme’s Global Services in response to COVID-19.

The 2015 Aid Strategy set out the Government’s new approach to aid where we embraced an integrated approach to delivering Official Development Assistance (ODA). This recognised the role of aid in tackling poverty and global challenges such as insecurity and that this serves our national interest. The delivery of ODA programmes by departments other than DFID has enabled us to leverage knowledge, skills and expertise from across government, delivering programmes that contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals and addressing the diversity of today’s development challenges. This collective effort has allowed our ODA programmes to deliver both strong development impact. The Government remains committed to ensuring that every pound spent on ODA is spent transparently and achieves maximum value for money for taxpayers.

While the UK does not have a bilateral development programme in Haiti, we support Haiti through our contributions to agencies such as the United Nations, European Union and the World Bank Group who have a strong presence on the ground. Our contributions are helping to make sure reconstruction reduces future disaster risks, health facilities are more climate resilient and the economy is better managed and supported. DFID holds itself to the highest standards and UK Aid must be delivered at all times in ways which do no harm. We will not fund any organisation that does not meet our high standards on safeguarding. Evidence suggests that sexual exploitation and abuse increase during crises and we must never be complacent. This is a long-term agenda and DFID continues to drive work to tackle sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment. We are making good progress with initiatives that root out perpetrators and improve support to survivors and victims.

The UK is concerned about the increasing risk of acute food insecurity, and we engage regularly with the FAO and WFP to discuss the global food security outlook. Recent discussions have focused on the indirect impacts of COVID-19 on food access and availability, agricultural production and food supply chains, and deteriorating trends.

The FAO and WFP regularly update the UK on their responses, in particular under the Global COVID-19 Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP). Efforts have prioritised anticipatory action to safeguard livelihoods and increase access to food, alongside global humanitarian logistics services. These aim to ensure continuity of critical food supply chains, strengthened national social protection systems, and safety of key food supply chain workers. The UK remains among the largest donors to the global COVID-19 response and the GHRP. The UK remains among the largest donors to the global COVID-19 response and the GHRP. We will continue to work closely with key partners to ensure assistance reaches those who need it most.