UPDATED
A further statement was made by the National Statistician on UK Statistics as we leave the EU on 31 January 2020.
As a responsible body, the UK Statistics Authority is preparing the UK statistical system for a range of EU exit scenarios. As we near March 2019, we – along with many other Government departments – need to set in motion our precautionary no-deal plan.
A draft statutory instrument has now been laid before Parliament, which prepares the UK statistical system for a possible no-deal scenario. It revokes a range of EU laws relating to statistics, which currently oblige the UK to undertake specific statistical activity, and to transmit data to Europe.
We are fortunate in the UK, to have a well-established and robust legal domestic framework. The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) underpins the UK’s independent statistical system, steers and regulates the production of UK statistics, and ensures they are free from political influence and other bias. It has promoted and safeguarded the UK’s official statistics for over a decade.
Regardless of the UK’s future relationship with the European Union, the UK statistical system will continue to collect, regulate and disseminate statistics under this domestic framework. The Code of Practice for Statistics will continue to safeguard the comparability and continuity of statistics, and producers will continue to work with decision-makers to make sure they have the data they need.
Furthermore, we remain strongly committed to co-operating closely with our colleagues in National Statistical Institutes and other producers of statistics across the EU and beyond to produce high-quality statistics, analysis and advice for the public good.
An Explanatory Memorandum accompanying the Instrument is available.
John Pullinger
National Statistician