Question reference: S5W-33466
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 23 November 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many households were invited to participate in the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey; how many of these households agreed to participate (a) on a one-off basis, (b) for a month or (c) regularly, and how many households that agreed to participate have not been involved in the survey in each week since it began.
Answer
Figures published on 26 November include response rates showing that, between 21 September and 21 November, 93,522 households have been invited to take part in the COVID-19 Infection Survey. Of the households that have been invited to take part, 12,779 households have registered (agreed to participate), reflecting a household acceptance rate of 14%. Within the 12,779 households that have registered, there are 24,815 individuals who are eligible to participate in the study. From the registered households, 10,516 individuals from 5,802 households have provided at least one swab, and 10,001 individuals have agreed to continue to participate in the survey. This indicates that 14,299 individuals from households that registered have not yet been involved in the survey and 515 individuals, from an unknown number of households, participated on a one-off basis only.
Often households that are invited to participate, register their participation and provide their first swab in separate weeks therefore figures for number of households that have agreed to participate and have not been involved in the survey split by week are not available in a meaningful format.
Acceptance rates cannot be regarded as final, as those who are invited are not given a time limit in which to respond. The total number of households invited will contain households to which the invitation was not successfully delivered, and therefore could not respond. Figures can be found on the ONS website: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/
conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/
26november2020/relateddata