The UK Statistics Authority welcomes today’s independent report on the UK Statistics Assembly, held on 22 January 2025. The Assembly was convened in partnership with the Royal Statistical Society, in response to a recommendation in the Independent Review of the UK Statistics Authority by Professor Denise Lievesley CBE.
The Assembly provided an opportunity for a wide range of stakeholders, including from central, local and devolved governments, business and industry, academia, civil society and charities, to discuss and advise on future priorities for the UK statistical system. We would like to thank all the 556 participants, who attended in person and online, for their enthusiastic and wide-ranging engagement.
Given the scope and ambition of the event, we felt that it would be useful to have an independent report distilling key observations and recommendations. Professor David Hand, chair of the National Statistician’s Expert User Advisory Committee, kindly agreed to lead this task. We would like to thank him, his colleagues from the committee, and others who contributed to this comprehensive report. We applaud their success in producing it so promptly.
Sir Robert Chote, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, said:
“I am delighted with the positive response to the Assembly that we have heard from so many stakeholders; it was a great day of discussions which Professor Hand has now distilled into this independent report.
The Board reviewed the report with great interest. It will inform immediate and longer-term planning for official statistics in the UK and help shape the Authority’s new five-year strategy, launching this summer.”
We are committed to working across the statistical system to act on the high-level recommendations, specifically on the need for the Authority to:
- ensure our user engagement is effective in understanding needs, continuing and building on the engagement from the Assembly
- address user needs for more granular statistics including small-area populations and characteristics on under-represented groups
- lead the way in using more administrative data, improving its quality and integration with surveys and other sources
- recognise the needs for UK-wide statistics and advocate for, and support, harmonised data where desirable
We will also consider the more detailed feedback on each topic covered in the report. For example, there was strong support from users for a whole-population census in 2031, complemented by continued use of administrative data to provide more frequent and timely population statistics. We will make a formal recommendation on the future of population statistics shortly to the UK Government, with whom the decision to call a census rests.
We will publish a detailed response to the report’s recommendations and a corresponding action plan, which the Authority Chair will discuss in the summer during his first annual lecture on the statistical system. We also encourage producers, users and anyone with an interest in the statistical system to read the report and consider any areas for alignment.
Beyond the success of the first UK Statistics Assembly, the Authority is undertaking a larger effort to strengthen our engagement with users. As we consider the feedback within the report on how we approach that most effectively, we encourage users to continue their feedback on the system through our existing channels.
Notes to editors:
- The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body operating at arm’s length from government as a non-ministerial department, directly accountable to Parliament. The Authority’s statutory objective is to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It is also required to promote and safeguard the quality and comprehensiveness of official statistics, and ensure good practice in relation to official statistics.
- The Board of the Authority is responsible for oversight of the statistical system, which includes its executive arms, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as the Government Statistical Service (GSS), which is a community of all those involved in the production of official statistics in the UK.
- For further enquiries, please contact press@statistics.gov.uk or 03000 671 571