Deadline extended to 12th June 2023
We are looking to appoint two independent members to the UK Statistics Authority’s National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics (NSCASE).
If successful in your application, you will play a central role in advising the National Statistician on official economic statistics, which are the most important indicators of the condition of the UK economy and are some of the most closely watched official statistics.
About the National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics:
Chaired by Professor Martin Weale, NSCASE supports the UK by ensuring its processes for influencing and adopting international statistical standards are world leading. Specifically, the Committee provides advice to the National Statistician on:
- the suitability of current standards across the ONS’s suite of economic data;
- which standards the UK should adopt in the future, to meet the specific measurement needs of the UK economy, while ensuring international comparability; and
- how the UK should influence the development of future standards.
The advice NSCASE provides to the National Statistician spans the full range of domains in economic statistics, including the National Accounts, fiscal statistics, prices, trade and the balance of payments and labour market statistics. It identifies global measurement best practice and considers how best to meet the imperative for internationally comparable statistics. It also identifies opportunities for statistical innovation and supports statistical producers as they seek to ensure that their statistics accurately capture economic reality.
The objectives of this committee are rooted in the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007). This legislation placed responsibility for statistical standards, methodologies, and classifications with the newly established UK Statistics Authority. Their main advisor on these matters is the National Statistician. Between 2007 and 2020, this domestic legislative framework operated alongside a range of European laws on statistics.
During this period, the UK had a legal obligation to compile its economic statistics using the frameworks and guidance set out by Eurostat: the statistical office of the European Union (EU). Following the UK’s exit from the EU, we are strengthening the way we produce, and quality assure our statistics with new governance arrangements that will support the adoption and implementation of high-quality standards for UK economic statistics.
These governance arrangements will support the adoption and implementation of high-quality standards for UK economic statistics. They will promote international comparability and add to the credibility and independence of the UK’s statistical system. Drawing on the best domestic and international expertise to address the key measurement challenges of modern economies, we will work in partnership with other international statistical organisations to progress these issues on the world stage. Our new governance arrangements will help to achieve the UKSA’s strategic objectives as set out in ‘Statistics for the Public Good’.
At the centre of this new governance framework is the National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics (NSCASE).
We are seeking candidates with a strong background as producers or users of economic and financial statistics in the private sector, either nationally or internationally and/ or experience at the interface of environmental and economic statistics.
Candidates should have mix of skills and experience with one or more of the following:
- A background working with international statistical bodies and/or on international statistical guidance on standards for and/ or the production, of economic and fiscal statistics.
- Producing or working with statistical standards.
- Strong background as producers or users of economic and financial statistics either nationally or internationally.
- Work with international statistical guidance and the bodies that produce such guidance.
Please see the applicant pack for more information on the requirements of the role.
The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body at arm’s length from government. The Authority has a statutory objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that ‘serve the public good’. The public good includes:
- informing the public about social and economic matters;
- assisting in the development and evaluation of public policy; and
- regulating quality and publicly challenging the misuse of statistics
The collective mission of the official statistics system is to provide high quality data and analysis to inform the UK, improve lives and build the future. Our remit covers the three principal elements of the UK official statistics system:
- the Government Statistical Service (GSS), which is the cross-government community of all those involved in the production of official statistics in the UK;
- the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority and the largest producer of official statistics in the UK;
- the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) which is the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority. It assesses official statistics for compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, reports on system-wide issues and on how statistics are used, celebrating when the standards are upheld and challenging publicly when they are not.
How to apply:
To apply for this post, you must provide a CV and a covering letter of no more than two pages of A4 setting out why you are interested in the role and clearly setting out how you meet the criteria outlined in the applicant pack.
There are two positions available.
You should send your application to SCS.recruitment@ons.gov.uk
Please contact rosie.maslin@statistics.gov.uk for more information about the position.
The application deadline for these positions is 12 June 2023.