Dear Simon

Care Home vaccine statements

Thank you for your email to Sir David Norgrove highlighting your concerns about the availability of vaccine data and linking to your blog: Vaccine alert no numbers.

In our view, it is poor practice to announce figures selectively from a dataset when the underlying data are not yet published. We would like to see more granular data available to support use in the ways you have highlighted and have publicly called for better data on vaccinations including through a recent statement on our website. In our statement, we drew attention to the use of care homes data as an example of using data before they were published.

This statement is in line with our longstanding views on the use of management information by government and other official bodies, set out in May 2020, which states:

“Equality of access: When management information is used publicly to inform Parliament, the media and the public, it should be published in an accessible form, with appropriate explanations of context and sources.”

We have brought this issue to the attention of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) in a letter from Sir David Norgrove in response to its request for evidence for its Data transparency and accountability: COVID-19 inquiry. We have also contacted relevant officials to highlight this case.

We will continue to monitor the use of unpublished information in public statements and will intervene publicly should the situation persist.

Yours sincerely

 

Ed Humpherson

Director General for Regulation