We would like to invite you to the third in a series of webinars on topics relating to Covid -19 organised jointly by the Health Statistics User Group (HSUG) and the RSS Official Statistics Section. It follows on from those held earlier in 2020 on mortality statistics and modelling. The focus will be on the statistical methods being used for Test, Trace and Protect, and it will involve sharing experiences and discussing approaches in the four nations of the UK.

Focus of the webinar
The current webinar series is focused on health and care statistics relating to Covid-19.  These meetings are planned to give an overview of recent developments in the availability and access to health and care statistics in the UK, in relation to Covid-19.  The webinars include presentations on work in England, Scotland and Wales (and N Ireland, if possible), with opportunity for feedback and discussion.
 
The purpose of the meetings is to improve awareness of what is being produced and also, through the discussions, to improve coherence, accessibility and understanding of the statistics being produced.
 
The focus is on how the statistics are produced (including by whom, to what timescale, within what constraints etc), and sharing experiences and discussing approaches, rather than on reporting results.
 
After the meetings the presentations, along with the questions raised and answers provided, are placed on the HSUG website.
 
Audience
The intended audience is people whose work involves producing and/or using data/statistics/information relating to Covid-19.
 
The webinars are not generally intended for the general public.  However, many of the people in the audience will be involved in making information available to the general public and so the webinars will indirectly help the public
 
Purpose of the webinars
The aims for the webinars are to provide an opportunity for:
 
i) People involved in producing statistics relating to Covid-19 to share their experiences and exchange ideas (note: “involved in” is intended to cover all aspects of production – data collecting, analysis, modelling, interpretation, presentation etc).
 
ii) People using the statistics to pose questions and make comments.  This will help with their understanding and use of these statistics.
 
iii) Members of the audience to contribute insights to the analysis and interpretation based on work they are doing.
 
iv) People producing the statistics to gain an understanding of the queries and comments that users have regarding their statistics, which will be helpful in improving the explanations that are provided with the statistics
 
 
Logistics 
For the third webinar on 28^th January, RSS will host the workshop, using MS Teams, as well as handling registrations.  RSS will send information about how to log in to the webinar to those of who have registered, together with some background information, including how the webinar will be organised.
 
There will be a facility to send queries and comments during the webinar using the chat facility within MS Teams.  Queries can also be sent in advance to the webinar e-mail address webinar@hsug.org.uk
 

Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR)-Sarah Whitehead
Introduction-scene setting

Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) –Jennifer Snape
The development of the weekly NHS Test and Trace statistics.

Public Health Scotland(PHS)-Scott Heald, Jade Carruthers, Emma McNair
Representatives from Public Health Scotland will talk through how data and statistics are being used to manage the COVID pandemic, including the public presentation of statistics.  The team will showcase work in Scotland and talk through some of the challenges and opportunities that working with COVID has presented.
 
Welsh Government-Alexandra Fitzpatrick, Sian Cross
The average number of contacts per index COVID-19 case and how this was affected by different restrictions.

Office for National Statistics(ONS) Ruth Studley
Overview of the infection surveys being led by ONS
This presentation will set out the user requirement and rapid development of the COVID-19 Infection Survey, which is carried out in partnership with Oxford University and other organisations.

Organised by Richard Willmer for the Health Statistics User Group (HSUG) and the RSS Official Statistics Section