UK Statistics Authority written evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the work of the UK Statistics Authority

Dear Simon

I am writing in response to the call for evidence for the Committee’s inquiry into the work of the UK Statistics Authority. We welcome our regular appearances before the Committee, not just as a channel of formal accountability to Parliament, but also as an important source of support, challenge and advice in ensuring that the official statistical system serves the public good as effectively as possible.

Last week, the Authority announced the resignation of Sir Ian Diamond as the UK’s National Statistician due to ongoing health issues. I am grateful to Sir Ian for his tireless energy and the passionate dedication he brought both to the role of National Statistician and to championing the vital role of statistics across society more broadly. Sir Ian oversaw many successes over his tenure during a remarkable period of economic and societal change, particularly during the pandemic. Emma Rourke, Deputy National Statistician for Health, Population and Methods, will be Acting National Statistician pending longer term arrangements being put in place. We will keep your Committee updated on these arrangements.

As you will be aware, it has been a challenging period for the official statistical system and for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in particular. Most obviously, the long-term trend of declining response rates for household surveys accelerated following the Covid pandemic, making it more difficult and expensive to maintain the quality of key economic data on which policy and other decision makers rely – most notably those relating to the labour market. T his has happened at a time when financial resources remain constrained and the barriers within government to the sharing, linking and exploitation of administrative data remain frustratingly high.

Colleagues across the official system have worked tirelessly to address these challenges and to exploit available opportunities, and the ONS and other statistical producers have continued to generate many high-quality outputs. But we need to ensure that the system is focused on addressing the challenges and difficulties, as well as being self-critical and open to learning and advice from outside when things can be done better. To that end, in addition to benefiting from the insights of the Lievesley Review in 2024, the UK Statistics Authority Board has supported the ONS in commissioning an unsparing internal ‘lessons learned’ exercise around the process of reforming its labour market statistics, in drawing on technical input from independent outside experts, and in engaging with and responding fully to the recommendations and requirements of the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

Most recently, in April 2025, the Board and the Cabinet Office jointly commissioned Sir Robert Devereux to undertake a short but wide-ranging independent review of the performance and culture of the ONS, drawing on the experiences and insights of staff across the organisation as well as external stakeholders. As I write this letter, the review is still under way. But I am confident that it will provide important insights and recommendations to help ensure that the ONS can operate to its full potential, and we will be able to brief you on these at a later stage of your inquiry.

You set out four sets of questions in your Terms of Reference:

How well served are policy-makers, researchers, businesses and citizens, by the data that ONS produces and the services it provides?
How is the UK’s data environment evolving, and what challenges and opportunities does this present official statisticians and analysts? What does the development of a National Data Library mean for the ONS?
How successful has the OSR been in identifying issues with official data, and making the case for improvements?
How does the UKSA Board carry out its statutory functions, and how involved is it in the decisions taken by senior leaders at ONS and OSR?

To address these questions, I attach three submissions – one each from the Authority, the OSR and the ONS. As you will appreciate, the ONS is in a period of transition following the resignation of Sir Ian Diamond as National Statistician on 9 May 2025 and the ONS submission was being written as he departed.

We look forward to discussing the questions you have raised and any other issues with you and the Committee on 1 July.

Yours sincerely,

Sir Robert Chote

Chair, UK Statistics Authority

How does the UK Statistics Authority Board carry out its statutory functions, and how involved is it in the decisions taken by senior leaders at Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR)?

Introduction

The UK Statistics Authority was established under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (‘the Act’) and formally assumed its powers under the Act on 1 April 2008. The Act gave the Authority the 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 statistic

In practice the Authority fulfils these objectives directly through the Office for National Statistics (ONS; its executive arm and the largest single producer of official statistics in the UK) and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR; its assessment arm), and indirectly through its oversight of the Government Statistical Service (GSS; the statisticians working in UK and devolved government departments and public bodies, which produce most UK official statistics)

The governance of the Authority was examined by Professor Denise Lievesley in her independent Review of the UK Statistics Authority (‘Lievesley Review’) published in 2024. The Authority welcomed Professor Lievesley’s recognition that the Authority’s governance was working well and that the two executive arms (the ONS and OSR) are sufficiently operationally independent in practice. To increase public understanding of the de facto distinction between the arms of the Authority, OSR published a statement on the operational separation between the ONS and OSR in October 2024.

Membership of the Authority Board comprises the Chair, at least five non-executive members, and three executive members. Other members of the ONS and OSR executive staff and representatives of the GSS attend as required.

As detailed in the standing orders of the Act, the Board is required to ‘usually to meet at least eight times a year’, but in both 2023 and 2024 met ten times. It also holds ad hoc meetings to cover topics of interest in greater depth or when more timely input is needed. The Chair has regular separate bilateral meetings with the National Statistician and the head of OSR, and non-executive members meet with ONS and OSR staff as needed on topics of shared interest or expertise.

The Board delegates some of its functions to committees. Among them, the Regulation Committee oversees the work of OSR, inputting to and signing off its major reports and decisions. As OSR regulates the ONS as well as other statistical producers, to avoid conflicts of interest as far as possible, the Regulation Committee comprises non-executive members of the Board and OSR executive members, but no executive staff from the ONS.

The Authority’s engagement with the devolved administrations is guided by the Concordat on Statistics, an agreed framework for co-operation in relation to the production of statistics, for and within the UK, statistical standards and the statistics profession. High-level governance and oversight of cross-UK statistical work is provided by the Authority’s Inter-Administration Committee (IAC), chaired by the National Statistician with membership including the Chief Statisticians of the devolved administrations.

Statutory functions

The functions of the Authority under the 2007 Act include:

To monitor the production and publication of official statistics.
To develop and maintain definitions, methodologies, classifications and standards for official statistics.
To prepare, adopt and publish a Code of Practice for Statistics.
When requested by the producer, to assess and determine whether the Code has been complied with in relation to any official statistics, and if so to designate them as National Statistics, nowadays commonly referred to as ‘accredited official statistics’.
To determine whether the Code continues to be complied with by ‘accredited official statistics’, and if not to cancel the designation.
To produce and publish statistics
To compile and maintain the retail prices index
To provide statistical services and promote and assist statistical research
To fulfil former functions of Registrar General for England and Wales as regards undertaking a census

In common with other public and private sector organisations, the Act imposes a duty on the Board to produce a report after the end of each financial year: the Authority’s Annual Report and Accounts. This meets statutory obligations, providing transparency and accountability for the use of public resources. The most recent Report (for 2023/24) can be found on the Authority website.

The Board must exercise its functions efficiently and cost-effectively and seek to minimise the burdens it places on other persons.

The Board and decision making

As noted above, the Board comprises a combination of executive and non-executive members. The non-executive members are appointed by ministers on the recommendation of an appointment panel that typically includes the Authority Chair, an independent member, and a representative from the Cabinet Office as sponsor department. The aim is to ensure a range of skills and expertise, currently from academia, public service and the private sector. Individual members’ expertise currently encompasses economics, statistics, data collection, technology, risk and governance and communication.

In the last couple of years, it has been something of a struggle to maintain a full complement of non-executive members despite excellent candidates being available. The previous Government refused to renew members beyond their initial three-year term (contrary to good governance practice which would have allowed at least one additional term) and it took a significant period to complete the appointment process for our three most recent arrivals as the process was delayed by the general election. Despite periods of sitting without a full quota of non-executive members, Board meetings were able to be quorate on virtually every occasion, and members in post continued to be actively engaged with the work of the Authority holding relevant expertise.

Board meetings typically comprise regular reports from the Chair, National Statistician, head of OSR, head of communications and sub-committee chairs, plus papers on substantive items of current importance. Some of these are on a regular cycle (for example discussion of business plans and the annual report and accounts). Some are as needed. In the last couple of years, regular items have included labour market statistics, the Integrated Data Service and the future of population statistics (including the census). On occasion, regular issues of this sort are dealt with through discussion of the National Statistician’s report to avoid staff working in high pressure areas spending too much time preparing board papers rather than on their core activities.

Agenda papers may ask the Board to note particular developments, to offer advice or to make formal decisions – for example endorse a recommendation from the National Statistician on the future of population statistics or the need for a census. As detailed in Section 30 of the Act, the National Statistician is the Board’s principal adviser on the quality of official statistics, good practice in relation to official statistics and the comprehensiveness of official statistics. The Board must have regard to their advice on those matters. Decisions are normally made following discussion that leads to a shared view of the way forward. However, the Chair can request a formal vote with a simple majority of those present deciding the matter. The Board has not yet voted formally.

The Board sets the broad direction of the Authority through agreement on a five-year strategy, currently Statistics for the Public Good 2020-2025 and due to be refreshed this year. The ONS and OSR business plans underpin delivery of the strategy, and the Board is engaged in the development of these, providing support, oversight, scrutiny and challenge ahead of approval.

The Board and its committees periodically review their own effectiveness and the effectiveness of their members. In line with good practice, we will be commissioning an externally led review of the Board in the coming year.

Subcommittees of the Board

Regulation Committee

The role of the Regulation Committee (formerly the ‘Assessment Committee’) is to help shape the regulation strategy of the Authority and to oversee the programme of assessment of sets of official statistics against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, plus other work related to assessment and regulation, thereby contributing to achievement of the Authority’s strategic objectives.

In practice, this means overseeing the work of OSR in setting, promoting and judging compliance with the Code, and in intervening (via the Authority Chair, the head of OSR or other OSR staff) when ministers, senior public figures or statistical producers fall short of the code or the associated principles of ‘intelligent transparency’. Committee members consider the final conclusions of assessment reports ahead of publication and also support the OSR in its wider activity aimed at supporting good practice.

The OSR’s recent work is described in detail in OSR’s submission. Recent areas of regulatory focus have included labour market statistics, specific economic statistics, the broader landscape of economic statistics, population statistics and the approach to gender identity in the last census. On a number of occasions, the Regulation Committee has de-accredited official statistics that no longer comply with the Code (sometimes at the producer’s request), accompanied by agreement on actions that, if fulfilled, would allow the statistic to be re-accredited as Code-compliant.

The Regulation Committee meets at least quarterly, with additional meetings convened as necessary. It comprises the Authority Chair, three non-executive Members of the Board and the head of OSR, with other OSR staff members attending as required. There are no executive staff members from the ONS or other statistical producers represented on the committee (except when invited as guests for specific discussions), consistent with the statutory requirement to separate statistical production and assessment.

The Audit and Risk Committee

Executive accountability for risk management resides with the National Statistician (as Accounting Officer), with executive oversight residing with the Executive Committee and its sub-committees. Chaired by a qualified Non-Executive Member, the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) supports the Board and the Accounting Officer in their responsibilities for risk management, control and governance by reviewing the comprehensiveness, reliability and integrity of the assurance available to them.

The Authority Risk and Assurance Framework provides a mechanism for the identification, analysis and management of risks across the Authority and is aligned to The Orange Book – Management of Risk, and reflects Risk Management best practice.

ARAC has responsibility for advising the Board on the effectiveness of governance, risk management and the system of internal control. This is also informed through audits and advisory work by the internal audit team. It currently comprises of the Non-Executive Chair, two non-executive Board members, two external independent members.

The Authority Board ensures that plans are in place for any risks outside of appetite. Updates are provided to each ARAC meeting on the evolving profile. ARAC scrutinises the management of the strategic risks to satisfy itself that major risks are identified and that mitigation strategies and appropriate levels of assurance are in place. It challenges and holds the Risk and Assurance team and Strategic Risk Owners to account.

Currently the Authority’s Strategic Risks relate to:

Independence, trustworthiness and impact
User needs
Delivery of strategic ambition
Quality management framework
Our Security
Our People
Our Communications
Quality economic statistics
Quality population statistics
Data access and usability
Technological resilience

Discussions by ARAC and the Authority Board have focused on the most significant risks to the successful delivery of the Authority strategy, including the interplay across the strategic risk profile, specifically statistical quality, technological resilience (with particular focus on legacy) and people and skills. The Statistics Quality risk has remained outside of appetite for a prolonged period. ARAC has provided a high level of oversight and consistently sought assurances on timing for the Statistics Quality risk to return within appetite. ARAC has also continued its focus on assuring legacy plans which should support improving quality and will play a key role in scrutinising all the strategic risks under the new risk profile, with particular focus on the quality of our economic statistics, legacy, people and meeting user needs.

Remuneration Committee

The Remuneration Committee agrees the pay and performance management framework for members of the Senior Civil Service employed by the Authority, within the parameters set by the Cabinet Office. It signs off performance and bonus decisions for staff at Deputy Director level and above.

How involved is the Board in the decisions taken by senior leaders at ONS and OSR?

As with most corporate or public sector organisations, a key role of the Board – and its non-executive members in particular – is to provide support and challenge to the Executive to help them deliver on the Board’s strategy and fulfil any statutory or regulatory duties. The Authority Board is unusual in that it has two executive arms – the production arm, the ONS, and the regulatory arm, OSR – and one of them regulates the other (along with the many other bodies producing official statistics). It also has a less direct responsibility for the GSS.

Within the ONS, the National Statistics Executive Group (NSEG) is the most senior executive committee, chaired by the National Statistician. Its role is to advise the National Statistician in the exercise of their functions as the Head of the GSS and Analysis Function and Chief Executive of the Authority. NSEG focuses on system-wide statistical and analytical matters, and this is reflected in the Group’s membership which includes two GSS Heads of Profession and colleagues from the devolved administrations. Meanwhile the Executive Committee (ExCo) focuses on all aspects of our business delivery within the ONS. Below NSEG and ExCo are a number of sub-committees that feed into discussions. For the OSR, the Regulation Committee helps to shape the regulation strategy of the Authority and oversee regulatory work. The Director General sits on the Regulation Committee, and he is supported by the OSR senior leadership team, who all attend the Committee.

Support and challenge from the Board is provided through multiple channels and is provided without seeking to conduct the role of the executive or micromanage. At every Board meeting there are update reports from the National Statistician and the DG for Regulation providing the opportunity for the two executive arms of the Authority to report on delivery against their respective Business Plans, including areas of success as well as highlight challenges. This allows the Board to engage, offer support, share expertise and offer challenge in the wider work of the executive arms, often covering work areas not discussed as substantive agenda items. When it is necessary to offer challenge, Board members are conscious of the need to be robust, forthright and persistent, while acting in a constructive and collegiate way and recognising any constraints the executive faces.

For support and challenge to operate effectively it is important that the executive has an accurate picture of what is going on the organisation and its major programmes and activities, and that this in turn is shared with the Board in a full and transparent way. As in almost every Board, the non-executives periodically emphasise the importance of candour and transparency so that they do not receive an incomplete or unduly rose-tinted picture.

The Chairs of the Audit and Risk, Regulation and Remuneration Committees also provide updates at the Board on the work of respective committees, in line with their delegated authority as set out in committee Terms of Reference. Through these updates the Board can share its views and support the work of Committees. For example, highlighting areas of concern and interest relating to Gender Identity in the 2021 England and Wales Census as the Regulation Committee investigated the matter.

The Authority Board receives monthly management information which helps to monitor performance against key deliverables as outlined in the Business Plan.

The Board sets the risk appetite for the Authority’s strategic risk profile and has a specific item on the strategic risks every six months. Work areas, projects and programmes feeding into strategic risks are of course often covered in substantive agenda items. This is underpinned by the work delegated to the ARAC. The strategic risk profile demonstrates the most significant risks to the successful delivery of the work of Authority Strategy. The forward agenda for the Authority Board reflects the key challenges and aligns to the strategic risk profile. The Board forward agenda is produced by the Secretariat in accordance with any determination of the Board and in consultation with the Chair of the Authority, the National Statistician and the Strategy and Policy Deputy Director.

External assurance

The Authority is unusual in that it has an in-house regulatory arm (OSR), which in addition to the work of the internal audit team, gives the Authority both internal and external scrutiny. Both the external and internal scrutiny are welcomed and encouraged by the Board.

External assurance is provided to the Authority Board and National Statistician in several ways. First and foremost, the Authority is an independent non-ministerial department that reports directly to the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly. The work and interest of Parliamentarians and Committees, including the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee (PACAC), on the work of the Authority is an important source of support, challenge and advice in ensuring that the official statistical system serves the public good as effectively as possible.

In addition, the National Statistician has convened a set of advisory committees and panels to provide external independent advice on specific topic areas. They include

Advisory Panels on Consumer Price Statistics (Stakeholder and Technical).
Data Ethics Advisory Committee
Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics
Expert User Advisory Committee.
Inclusive Data Advisory Committee.
Labour Market Statistics.
Methodological Assurance Panel.

Membership of these groups includes representation from academia, government departments, the devolved governments and research bodies.

External expertise is also sought on a bespoke basis and shared with the Board. One such example was the review undertaken by Professors Ray Chambers and James Brown as part of the ONS’s systematic assessment of its readiness to manage the transition from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS). They looked specifically at survey design, response patterns and weighting methods.

The Board also encourages frank and honest engagement with key users of ONS statistics to ensure that their requirements and feedback can be reflected. For example, ensuring that the ONS engages fully and constructively with the Bank of England and HM Treasury regarding the transition from the LFS to the TLFS and that any significant concerns they have are shared with the Board. The Stakeholder Advisory Panel on Labour Market Statistics chaired by Professor Jonathan Portes, and including representatives from other government departments, academia, the Scottish and Welsh governments and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency has been a key source of advice and assurance as work on this transition has proceeded.

Over the last year this work has been an area of significant focus for the Board. The sharp fall in household survey response rates, a significant challenge in the UK as well as for other NSIs around the world has affected the quality of data from the LFS. As part of the work to address these challenges the ONS has been developing an online-first TLFS.

Throughout this process the Board has provided scrutiny, oversight, challenge and support as the has work progressed (as detailed in published Board papers). The non-executive members have also held extended sessions allowing them to better understand the range of issues. The Board has provided clear feedback about the risks of transferring from the LFS to the TLFS mindful of stakeholder concerns and quality issues. At their meeting on 27 March, the Board considered the advice by the National Statistician on the TLFS as well as assurances from technical advisors and the advisory committee to reach collective agreement on the way forward.

The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) – previously the Infrastructure and Project Authority (IPA) – is the government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects. It regularly scrutinises any of our projects that fall under the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP). These have included the ONS’s Integrated Data Service Programme and the Future of Population and Migration Statistics. Along with Treasury Business case reviews, these have offered external assurance both to the executive and the Board, although it is not unknown for projects that have cleared these hurdles multiple times to end up with difficulties that would presumably have been even harder for the Board alone to surface.

UK Statistics Authority

May 2025

How successful has the OSR been in identifying issues with official data, and making the case for improvements?

Summary

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) is charged with upholding the standards of official statistics across the UK. Through our wide-ranging regulatory work we identify issues and respond to stakeholder concerns about official data. We set requirements for improvements, as well as highlighting areas of best practice.

Our work has secured commitments from statistical producers that have led to positive improvements in many official statistics, although the speed with which this can be achieved is not always as timely as we would like. The importance of our role, and the independence and rigour that we bring to the task, has been noted by external reviews such as Professor Denise Lievesley’s independent review of the UK Statistics Authority and the PACAC report on Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base.

This submission sets out: our scope and approach to regulation; our key regulatory interventions and how we have identified issues and required improvements; and our views on the evolving statistical system. We have included clear examples of where our work has been vital in securing improvements or holding organisations to account against a backdrop of significant issues or concerns.

Many of the examples included in this submission relate to statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This represents some of our most recent and high-profile interventions. However, OSR’s regulatory activities span the range of Crown and non-Crown producers of official statistics across the UK.

Introduction

OSR is the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority and was established in November 2016 following the Bean Review. OSR fulfils the assessment and regulatory function set out in the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007). We are independent from Government and are separate from producers of statistics, including the ONS.

The work of OSR is overseen by the Regulation Committee of the UKSA Board, which comprises non-executive members of the main UKSA Board and the Director General of Regulation sits as an executive member. There are no executive members of the ONS on this committee to avoid any conflict of interest when OSR is examining the work of the ONS. The Chair of the Authority sits on the Regulation Committee and has stated – like his predecessor – that in the event of a dispute between OSR and the ONS, he and the Board would, by instinct, side with the regulator.

Professor Lievesley examined the operation of OSR and the Regulation Committee and concluded that: “Having reviewed the organisation thoroughly, this Review is satisfied that there is sufficient operational independence between ONS and OSR. The Review could find no tangible evidence to support assertions that the two organisations are too cosy or that a fundamental, unmanageable conflict of interest exists between the two that undermines the integrity or quality of the statistics produced by ONS, though it is important to pay attention to the perception of independent scrutiny.”

In line with the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007) the principal roles of the OSR are to:

Set the statutory Code of Practice for Statistics
Assess compliance with the Code of Practice
Accredit official statistics that comply fully with the Code of Practice
Report any concerns on the quality and comprehensiveness of official statistics
Report any concerns on good practice in relation to official statistics

Our purpose is to ensure statistics serve the public good by regulating against the principles of Trustworthiness, Quality, and Value. As a regulator, we work through three delivery channels:

We uphold the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics and data used as evidence
We protect the role of statistics in public debate
We develop a better understanding of the public good of statistics

Our 5-year plan sets out our vision and priorities for 2020-2025 and how we will contribute to fostering the Authority’s ambitions for the statistics system. Our annual business plan shares our focus for the current year.

Our regulatory approach

Regulatory tools

As the regulator for official statistics across the UK, we have a number of different tools that we use in order to identify issues with official statistics and make recommendations or requirements for improvements:

Assessments: Detailed reviews of an official statistics output that grant, reconfirm or remove the status of ‘accredited official statistics’ (referred to as ‘National Statistics’ in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007)
Compliance checks: Short, focused reviews, typically providing a high-level investigation of the official statistics
Reviews: Pieces of work examining issues across the statistics landscape or related sets of official statistics to provide strategic recommendations
Casework: Complaints received on the production and use of statistics which are investigated and a judgement reached

Engagement with statistical producers

OSR is structured around 8 topic domains, each of which are responsible for maintaining an overview of the statistics produced by relevant government departments and public bodies within that topic. This knowledge ensures that OSR remains up to date on existing and emerging issues and ensure that our reviews and judgements are informed by a deep understanding of the topic.

The domains build strong regulatory relationships with the relevant statistics producers, which support better outcomes for the statistical system, through early and frank exchange of information and intelligence, and securing buy-in from the producers of statistics for the requirements and recommendations set by OSR.

One of these key relationships is with the civil service Heads of Profession for Statistics who sit within each statistical producer organisation. Heads of Profession for Statistics play a vital role in upholding the quality and standards of official statistics as set out in the Code. OSR works closely with the Heads of Profession across government to provide a mix of challenge, advice and support where appropriate.

Whilst we provide specific recommendations to producers as part of our reviews, in general we take a more holistic approach to regulation, providing support, advice and training in additional to our formal regulatory work. This approach ensures that our work with producers secures real change and improvement in statistics, rather than being a performative tick-box exercise. We set the expectation that producers are open and honest about the statistics with us as the regulator and in the public domain. We stand firm on our regulatory decisions but always ensure that we are fully informed by conversations with the producer so that they are proportionate and rooted in the facts.

We pride ourselves on this collaborative approach and consider that it leads to considerably better outcomes for the statistical system. This approach was endorsed by Professor Lievesley, whose review noted that many statistics producers commend the support and guidance from the OSR and that this constructive approach is having a positive impact on compliance with the Code.

Separation from the ONS

For regulation to be effective, it is important that external stakeholders have confidence in the arrangements ensuring OSR’s separation from the ONS. This separation is crucial because it is what enables OSR to make sound regulatory decisions about the ONS’s production of official statistics. These regulatory decisions should be made in the same way, using the same criteria and governance, as for any producer of official statistics.

In October 2024 we published a statement which transparently set out how the separation of OSR from the ONS is achieved in practice. The OSR has separate governance structures, strategy and business planning, reporting lines to the Chair of the Authority, and external communications. As noted above, Professor Lievesley examined the operation of the OSR and the Regulation Committee and found them to be robustly independent.

Regulatory work

Economic statistics

High quality economic statistics are a crucial underpinning for informed decision-making and the functioning of the UK economy. Over the last few years, there have been a number of economic shocks which have brought increased interest in, and scrutiny of, economic statistics produced by the ONS. Over the last year in particular, there has been growing external criticism of ONS.

OSR has proactively undertaken an extensive programme of regulatory work on economic statistics over the last 5 years. These reviews have been fundamental in synthesising stakeholder concerns, identifying issues with the quality of the core building blocks of economic statistics. We have set out clear requirements for improvements from the ONS, and hold the ONS to account by monitoring progress against its delivery of these improvements.

This section sets out regulatory work on the ONS’s economic statistics. It:

Describes our methodology (Spotlight on quality)
Summarises our work on price statistics
Summarises our work on labour market statistics

Sets out how our April 2025 review builds on the issues identified in our assessments over the preceding 5 years and highlights the urgent need for the ONS to address quality concerns.

Spotlight on Quality Assessments

The UK’s departure from the EU ended the role of the European statistical office (Eurostat) in verifying the quality of UK statistics. In response, we enhanced our work programme of reviews of economic statistics including the development of a Spotlight on Quality assessment framework which will provide continued assurance on the quality internationally comparable economic statistics.

This framework builds on our earlier regulatory reviews on the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCFS) and UK Business Demography Statistics. The framework sets out four key areas to evaluate the quality of statistics: whether the statistics are produced using suitable data sources whether appropriate methods are used transparent quality assurance whether the statistics are sufficiently prioritised and resourced proportionately to their use. This framework has been vital to highlighting issues and areas for improvement in the economic statistics produced primarily by the ONS. It has been used to underpin the requirements we have set for the ONS.

The Spotlight on Quality Assessment programme provides a detailed review of many of the data sources and components that feed into the production of GDP and the broader National Accounts. We have undertaken the following reviews:

Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) – October 2024. The assessment found improvements in methods and user engagement but noted that further information needs to be published around methods and data quality. It recommended enhancing explanations of the methods and better communicating development plans.
Business Investment Statistics – October 2024. The review highlights positive user feedback on the frequency and availability of the statistics but highlighted concerns about revisions and outdated production systems. It recommended analysing the impact of non-sampling errors, updating methods and quality information, and engaging a wider range of users.
Review of Economic Statistics Classifications – July 2024. The review recognised the importance of classifications for National Accounts but raised issues about capability and responsiveness to user needs. Recommendations included more openness about decision-making and faster publication of classification decisions.
UK Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Statistics – July 2024. The assessment highlighted efforts to improve the BERD methodology and a move to electronic questionnaires. It recommended transparency about the questionnaire used and better communication with users on uncertainty, strengths and limitations.
Northern Ireland Business Expenditure on Research and Development Statistics – July 2024. OSR noted good alignment with UK standards but advised on improving documentation of methods and expanding user engagement. Recommendations focused on engaging with users to identify any needs for a potential back series and additional background information.
Profitability of UK Companies and Gross Operating Surplus of Private Non-Financial Corporations – January 2024. The assessment found that while the statistics are broadly reliable, there is limited documentation on the quality of different data sources. OSR recommended improving quality assurance, documenting quality information and wider user engagement
Producer Price Inflation (PPI) – July 2023. The assessment found that while the ONS has made improvements to quality and international comparability of the PPIs, under-prioritisation of these statistics has negatively affected the quality. OSR defined several requirements to improve the statistics, including to modernise the inflexible legacy systems used to produce the statistics.

ONS’s Price Statistics

The CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including Owner Occupiers’ Housing Costs) is the ONS’s lead and most comprehensive measure of consumer price inflation. It includes the costs associated with owning, maintaining, and living in one’s own home, which is the most significant expense for many households. As such, it is key that the owner occupiers’ housing costs (OOH) element is captured accurately.

As highlighted in our Systemic Review on Housing and Planning Statistics in 2017, the previous method for producing private rental sector statistics had known limitations including being unable to provide estimates of private rent levels and change that were both comparable over time and available at low levels of geography.

To address these limitations, the ONS developed the Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) which has now replaced the ONS’s Index of Private Housing Rental Prices (IPHRP) and Private Rental Market Statistics (PRMS) and is used for estimating the owner occupiers’ housing costs (OOH) element of CPIH.

PIPR was published for the first time in March 2024, following which, the ONS requested that we assess the statistics against the Code with a view to them becoming accredited official statistics. This process was undertaken in order to provide assurance to users and stakeholders on the quality and reliability of the estimates. We undertook our review at pace, publishing in October 2024.

The OSR review judged that “ONS’s new PIPR statistics generally appear to be meeting users’ needs more effectively than the previous private rents measures that these statistics have replaced.” However, we also concluded that “although the ONS has published supporting methods and quality documentation for PIPR, this does not currently amount to a sufficiently accessible and detailed account of PIPR methods to enable an adequate understanding of the approaches used, the ONS’s rationale for choosing them, and their relative strengths and limitations, for both technical and non-technical users.”

Ultimately, our review determined that the ONS will need to develop and publish the necessary materials; publish NI and full UK PIPR-based estimates; and facilitate an effective evaluation of the UK PIPR series with users before we will consider initiating a full assessment of whether these statistics merit accredited official statistics status.

The review set out five requirements that the ONS will need to address as it further develops the PIPR statistics and required that the ONS publish an action plan by January 2025 setting out how it will address these requirements, and report back to us publicly every three months on its progress. This process ensures that there is transparency for stakeholders and users and that the ONS is held to account.

In February 2025 we set out a forward work plan on assuring confidence in consumer and household price statistics, we have since initiated a review that will focus specifically on the ONS’s approach to transforming its consumer price statistics in advance of a full re-assessment of CPI and CPIH statistics. We will also begin a review of Household Cost Indices (HCIs) later this year.

Labour market statistics

We have focused our work around the challenges that the ONS has faced with its labour market statistics on three distinct themes:

Recognising the changing labour market
Declining response rates
Transforming labour market statistics

Responding to a changing labour market

Employment and jobs statistics are essential for understanding the patterns and dynamics of the UK labour market. They are used widely by a variety of stakeholders, for example within UK Government and by the Bank of England to develop and monitor government policies and so it is important that they are accurate, high quality and clear to fully serve the public good.

Over the last few years, labour market statistics have faced a variety of challenges related predominantly to falling response rates. OSR has provided regulatory oversight of these issues and the ONS’s response, undertaking a significant volume of regulatory work on labour market statistics in the past few years as set out below.

In response to growing concerns about the reliability of the Labour Force Survey in 2020, we assessed the UK employment and job statistics produced by the ONS.

The report emphasised the importance of the ONS adopting a flexible approach. It highlighted the labour market and economy are in constant change, and that the statistics that describe the labour market must therefore adapt to reflect those changes. This includes embracing new data sources and navigating the impact of COVID-19. We concluded that “ONS needs to demonstrate drive and ambition to fill the data gaps and match the pace of change in the labour market, engaging effectively with users to ensure their needs are met.”

In our report we identified areas of good practice such as the labour market statistics team’s collaboration and engagement with a wide range of users and stakeholders. We also set out 12 requirements for the ONS, which were necessary in order to ensure that these statistics could continue to be designated as accredited official statistics (then referred to as National Statistics).

Response rate challenges

We have seen a long-term trend of response rate challenges facing the LFS, which became acute when the sample boost in place to enable pandemic operations was removed in July 2023. Following this, in October 2023, the ONS suspended publication of its estimates of UK employment, unemployment and economic inactivity based on LFS data and announced that it would publish a new experimental series using additional data sources in its place. This short notice change to methods of a key series had a significant impact on user confidence.

In response, we immediately announced and initiated a rapid review of these experimental statistics which was published in November 2023. This review set out key requirements for the ONS on:

suitable data sources
sound methods and quality assurance
clarity of communication
managing quality

As a reflection of the significant concerns about quality, the review resulted in the removal of the accredited official statistics status from LFS-based estimates. Following enhanced quality information provided by producers at our request, we also removed the accreditation from other outputs based on data from the Annual Population Survey which is based on responses to wave 1 and wave 5 of the LFS plus a boost sample.

In response to the ONS reintroducing the LFS-based labour market statistics in February 2024, we carried out a short review. A key theme that emerged from this review was the need for improved, clear and open communication from the ONS. The review set out requirements around: communication of plans and priorities; accessibility of updates and communications; explaining how the data should be used; communication of data quality issues and improvements; and transition to the TLFS. In August 2024, we carried out a follow-up review to check the progress made against the requirements.

ONS’s Transformation plans for the Labour Force Survey

We have also carried out regulatory work throughout the development of the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS). Throughout this period, the ONS was developing in parallel the TLFS, which was intended to address many of the concerns and shortcomings of the LFS, but this work has also faced significant delivery challenges.

We carried out our TLFS review in three phases with the aim of sharing early regulatory insights to help the ONS in ensuring the new survey meets the standards of the Code. The first phase (which started in April 2022) focused on the design and development work the ONS had planned before transitioning to the new survey approach.

We published our initial findings on the TLFS in November 2022 which set out a range of requirements, including on enhancing public confidence and maximising the public value of the TLFS; communicating impacts; and supporting public confidence in the transformation process. In July 2023, we published an updated letter and progress report following phase two of our review.

In February 2025, we reported the outcome of phase three of our review of the ONS’s LFS transformation. This report consolidated OSR’s work on both the LFS and TLFS, bringing together our judgements to date and providing updates on the remaining open recommendations and requirements.

Following recommendations set out by OSR, the ONS has widened its user engagement with the introduction of the stakeholder panel and expert data sharing groups and has been publishing updates on the labour market transformation – progress and plans. In December 2024, the ONS also published an interim action plan based on the results of its ‘lessons learnt’ exercise conducted in summer 2024; published the detail of an independent methodological review; and explained its plans in an accessible way. The ONS has revised its plans for the TLFS and in response we made further recommendations for the ONS to set out detailed plans for transitioning to the TLFS, and to set out plans for regular reporting on the progress of the interim action plan from its ‘lessons learnt’ exercise. We have asked the ONS to report on progress again by July 2025.

We continue to closely monitor the ONS’s work to improve the LFS. We will maintained our engagement with the ONS and users to understand whether these changes have increased quality sufficiently to meet user needs. We have asked the ONS to report on progress again by July 2025.

Review of ONS economic statistics

In April 2025, we published our report based on our Systemic Review of ONS Economic Statistics. The report provided a synthesis of the concerns surrounding the ONS economic statistics that had emerged from our work over the last five years, and feedback from stakeholders.

The report was direct in recognising the need for urgency in addressing the declining stakeholder confidence in ONS’s economic statistics, concluding that:

The ONS must fully acknowledge and address declining data quality
Making progress with administrative data is difficult
Greater strategic clarity of purpose and transparency on prioritisation would help reassure external stakeholders

The review also set requirements that the ONS must address:

Restoring confidence, by producing a fully resourced plan to recover its social survey operation and reduce risk in its business survey operation.
Ensuring strategic transparency, by clearly setting out the core purpose of economic statistics and what can be achieved with available funding in its business plan, a strategic plan for economic statistics and a strategic plan for data sources.
Focusing on the quality of data inputs, by implementing a prioritised rolling programme of regular reviews of individual surveys and other data sources.

Population statistics

The UK’s population statistics are going through a period of profound challenge and change.

This section sets out how OSR’s work on population statistics has highlighted the effective work undertaken by the ONS, National Records Scotland (NRS), and Northern Ireland and Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) on the 2021 and 2022 Censuses respectively, but also brings out the issues surrounding measuring gender identity, and the opportunities and challenges from the use of administrative data.

Censuses in the UK

We have conducted assessments of the censuses produced by the ONS, NRS and NISRA. Our assessments have been conducted in three phases. In October 2019, we published our reports on Phase 1, focusing on the planning and consultation activities undertaken by the census offices across the UK. In November 2021, we published our Phase 2 Assessment reports, focusing on the strategies for developing and providing outputs for both the England & Wales Census 2021 and the Northern Ireland Census 2021. For Scotland Census 2022, our Phase 2 Assessment report was published in April 2023.

The phased approach is essential for the Census outputs as we have historically granted accredited official statistics status at the end of phase 2 which is prior to the publication of the outputs themselves. This is due to the national significance of these statistics and the importance of reassuring users as to the quality of them at the time of publication, rather than retrospectively. This approach means that it is essential for the departments to meet the requirements set out in phase 1 and phase 2 before accredited official statistics status is granted.

For Scotland’s Census 2022, NRS faced unexpected challenges given that the overall response rate was lower than had been anticipated (89.8% compared to target of 94%). The media and users were concerned that statistics derived from the Census would not be fit for purpose because of the response rate. As a result, NRS undertook a number of steps in collaboration with international census experts to change how the final census estimates were calculated, involving the use of administrative data alongside the Census Coverage Survey and census responses in the estimation process. Using OSR principles of intelligent transparency and OSR communicating uncertainty guidance, NRS carefully considered its communication approach for its first outputs of the Census 2022 data. We commended NRS’s dedication to meet the needs of users and follow the standards of the Code of Practice, including most recently by advocating this good practice in a published communicating uncertainty case study.

We published our phase 3 assessment report of the 2021 Census in Northern Ireland in February 2025. This final report confirmed that the 2021 Census statistics in Northern Ireland are produced in compliance with the Code. Our phase 3 assessment of the 2021 Census in England and Wales is ongoing with a projected summer 2025 publication date. Our phase 3 assessment of the Scotland Census will be undertaken in 2025/26.

Review of Gender Identity in the ONS 2021 England and Wales Census

Information on individual’s gender identity was collected on a voluntary basis for the first time in the ONS 2021 England and Wales Census. As such, the data provided the first ever nationally available estimates for England and Wales on the size and characteristics of the trans population. In addition, the question developed for the Census represents the current Government Statistical Service (GSS) harmonised standard in development for collecting data on gender identity.

Following the first release of census statistics on gender identity in England and Wales in January 2023, concerns were raised about the published estimates of the trans population. As additional census data were published, these concerns extended to the relationship between gender identity and proficiency in English. OSR also received concerns about the level of methodological information published.

OSR undertook a review of these statistics and published an interim report in October 2023 and a final report in September 2024. Learning from new evidence in Scotland’s Census, the ONS wrote to us on 5 September 2024 to request that the gender identity estimates from Census 2021 in England and Wales should no longer be accredited official statistics, and should instead be classified as official statistics in development. The ONS’s proposal was consistent with our report findings, and we accordingly removed the accreditation for these statistics. We also concluded that the issues were unique to the statistics on gender identity, and therefore all other outputs from the Census 2021 in England and Wales are unaffected and remained as accredited official statistics. Our work also found that the ONS had been somewhat closed and at times defensive, in responding to concerns raised by users.

Our final report shared our recommendations on the steps the ONS must take to help users of the census gender identity statistics understand their strengths and limitations and set out the development work we consider is required on the GSS gender identity harmonised standard.

The ONS wrote to us in December 2024 updating on their progress towards meeting the recommendations. This included publishing a workplan for developing harmonised standards for sex and gender identity data collection and new Gender Identity Data Harmonisation interim guidance for statistics producers.

Following these publications, we updated our existing guidance on collecting and reporting data about sex and gender identity in official statistics in December 2024 to include these new publications.

On 26 March 2025, the ONS published a blog further updating on the actions it is taking to meet our recommendations. These actions included publishing additional guidance on the appropriate use of the gender identity estimates from Census 2021 in England and Wales and information on the uncertainty associated with them. We consider this to be an excellent research report which includes example use cases at different levels of geography and population and addresses anomalies and implausibility’s. We are confident this practical information will users to better understand the uncertainty in the data and its implications for use.

The ONS is also making progress with developing harmonised standards for sex and gender identity data collection. We have asked that the ONS continues to keep OSR updated as it develops these harmonised standards.

Admin-based population estimates for England and Wales

Admin-based population estimates (ABPE’s) have huge potential to provide more timely, detailed and potentially more accurate population data compared to traditional census-based methods. The ONS intends for the ABPE’s to become the official population estimates for England and Wales in 2025. Given the extensive use of population statistics, it is vital that this new methodology has appropriate oversight and scrutiny.

Our phased assessment approach for ONS’s Admin-based population estimates (ABPE’s) for England and Wales statistics aims to provide reassurance to users on the new methods by the ONS for producing population estimates in England and Wales.

We published our phase one assessment of these statistics in July 2024 which focused on reviewing quality. As part of this assessment, we commissioned an independent review from Professor Arkadiusz Wisniowski, University of Manchester to inform our judgements around the suitability and quality assurance of the data and methods. Our assessment identified 11 requirements for the ONS to act on that will help to enhance the public value, quality and trustworthiness of these statistics. These requirements covered areas such as governance, data quality, methods, revisions, user engagement, and communication. The requirements included:

Requirement 1: To maintain public confidence in its population statistics, the ONS needs to understand the current dependencies between the ABPEs and MYEs. Together with key stakeholders, such as the Welsh Government, the ONS should also develop and publish criteria to support its decision about when the ABPEs will replace the MYEs. The criteria should include statistical quality, operational readiness, planned evaluation and assurance processes and contingency plans, and be usefully applied to the ABPEs and MYEs.
Requirement 2: To ensure that there is sufficient oversight and leadership of the production of ABPEs in a way that is joined-up across the ONS, and support the ongoing development of ABPEs, the ONS should strengthen its governance structure. Work here should include establishing clearly defined decision-making responsibilities to manage any risks associated with funding, capability and prioritisation across the ABPEs production process.
Requirement 8: To instil confidence in the ABPEs and ensure that the DPM methods are sound and subject to sufficient independent and external challenge, the ONS should:
- continue with its plans to create a sub-group of its Methodological Assurance Review Panel (MARP; the independent panel used by ONS to provide advice and assurance on methods used to produce official statistics).
- create and implement an expert user group.
- make it easier for users to find relevant MARP papers to support technical user understanding of the methods used in the DPM.

Since our report was published, the ONS has used our findings to help shape and steer its development work for the ABPE’s. In October 2024 the ONS published an action plan for how it will develop population statistics. This sets out that the work to address and build on the requirements and recommendations from the assessment will be iterative. Over the last six months, and in response to our findings, the ONS has developed and published a population and international migration statistics revisions policy, introduced quarterly updates to keep users up to date with its plans including its work on ABPEs and increased its user engagement activities in a co-ordinated and transparent way. We continue to engage with the ONS as part of our follow-up phase to scrutinise the ONS’s activities and will consider the next phase of our assessment in summer 2025.

Other regulatory work

Domain summaries

OSR is structured into eight topic teams, called ‘domains’. The two preceding sections have summarised some of the key work undertaken by our Economy, Business and Trade domain and our Population and Society domain respectively.

This section provides a short overview of our remaining six domains as well as recent regulatory work.

Children, Education and Skills: This domain oversees the regulation of data and statistics concerning all stages of education from early years to university and beyond, including statistics on teachers and lecturers, learners, and looked after children. We recently carried out an assessment of the Higher Education (HE) Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics produced by the Jisc under the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) brand. We published our report in April 2024 and confirmed the accreditation of the statistics without requirements for improvement. We are providing support to the newly created Welsh Government Sponsored Body, Medr, which is responsible for a number of official statistics previously published by Welsh Government in an addition to outputs from the Higher Education Funding Council Wales (HEFCW). In previous years we have also carried out assessments on the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels statistics produced by Scottish Government, and the Key Stage 4 performance statistics for England produced by the Department for Education.

Crime and Security: This domain covers statistics on crime, policing, justice systems (family, civil and criminal) and national security. This domain has undertaken a number of significant and impactful reviews over the last few years including: the Fraud and Computer misuse statistics for England and Wales published by the ONS; the quality of Criminal Court Statistics for England and Wales produced by the Ministry of Justice and based on data from the HM Courts Tribunals Service (HMCTS); and Police recorded crime statistics published quarterly by the ONS, based on Home Office data collected from the 43 individual police forces in England and Wales and British Transport Police. We have also carried out assessments on the Scottish Prison Population statistics produced by the Scottish Government and Police Officer Uplift statistics produced by the Home Office.

Health and Social Care: This domain oversees the regulation of statistics concerning the health of the UK population and health and social care services provided in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Our Health and Social Care domain played a vital role during, and following, the COVID-19 pandemic in rapidly reviewing the quality of statistics being used by Government and the public including:

In addition to work on statistics relating to COVID-19, the domain has also assessed Accident and Emergency (A&E) Activity Statistics in Scotland and statistics about the workforce employed by adult social services departments in England.

Housing, Planning and Local Services: This domain oversees statistics on a range of topics, including: house building; household estimates and projections; homelessness and rough sleeping; housing need and demand; land stock, use and development; and local authority planning. It also covers information on local services such as fire and rescue services. This domain has undertaken a wide range of compliance checks in the last few years including on Statistics on Council Tax in Wales, Social Housing Lettings in England produced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Valuation Office Agency Council Tax statistics. The domain has also assessed statistics on Statutory Homelessness in England produced by the, then named, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

Labour Market and Welfare: The Labour Market and Welfare theme includes statistics measuring different aspects of work and jobs and covers people’s employment, working patterns and the types of work they do. The theme also covers any earnings and benefits they receive. Currently, this domain is primarily focused on the LFS and TLFS as summarised in the ‘Economic statistics’ section above. However, other examples of work include an assessment on the Personal Independence Payment statistics produced by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Transport, Environment and Climate Change: This domain covers statistics on transport and transport infrastructure; food and farming; the natural environment; energy; fuel poverty; and climate change. This domain maintains strong stakeholder relationship with the wide range of producers who are active in producing statistics in this topical area. We have intervened on subjects that have attracted much public interest such as improving transparency of Welsh Governments’ 20-mph speed limit data. We have previously undertaken regulatory reviews of some key biodiversity indicators including our assessment of Defra’s butterfly statistics as well as more systemic reviews such as accessibility and coherence of UK climate change statistics.

Transparency on the use of data

One of our flagship campaigns relates to the way statistics and data are used in communication. The campaign is based on our principles of intelligent transparency. The core of intelligent transparency is the requirement that all statements made by those in government involving statistics or data must be based on publicly available data, preferably the latest available official statistics where possible.

There have been several high-profile endorsements of intelligent transparency including the report from the PACAC on Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base in May 2024, which commended our work on intelligent transparency and noted that “This Intelligent Transparency guidance has driven the publication of several datasets which would otherwise remain hidden to members of the public, and has been welcomed by many organisations who rely on good data”. The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) also supports the campaign and has integrated the principles of intelligent transparency into the RSS’s new Principles to support statisticians making trade-offs in pressurised situations.

Casework

Through our casework process we regularly receive complaints about the use of data and statistics, often relating to our principles of intelligent transparency. This process is vital in OSR upholding the standards of the use of official statistics and beyond in public debate, holding individuals and organisations to account when needed. In the international landscape of official statistics, this function is relatively unusual, but we consider it an important part of underpinning confidence in statistics and data. This section provides some examples of our recent key interventions.

In October 2024, we were made aware of an unsupported statement made by the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour Party Conference regarding immigration returns. At the time the Prime Minister made the claim there was no Home Office data or statistics available in the public domain for the relevant time period to support this statement. We worked with the Home Office and this led to the publication of an ad-hoc statistical release, which provided the underlying data that related to the statement.

In March 2025 we wrote to Peter Schofield, Permanent Secretary for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) regarding a statement on the number of people on Universal Credit health with no requirement to look for work in a press release. We judged that the statement that the number of people claiming disability elements of Universal Credit had “increased by 383%” presented an ‘entirely misleading’ picture to the public as it did not recognise that the majority of this increase is due to the process of migrating people from legacy benefits over the last few years. When these people are accounted for, the actual increase in the number of people claiming disability elements of Universal Credit is around 50%. We requested that the press release was updated that week to remove the reference to the 383% figure and that it was not to be used going forward. DWP actioned the change to the press release shortly after and the Permanent Secretary responded to us committing to involving lead statisticians and analysts at all stages of the process, and that there will be appropriate oversight from their Head of Profession for Statistics.

In October 2022, we wrote to Scottish Government in relation to concerns that had been raised with us about the NHS inform dashboard. The NHS Inform dashboard showed the numbers of patients treated in the last quarter and their median wait times by clinical specialty. However, patients who have not yet been treated, some of whom may have been waiting a long time, were not included in these statistics. As such, we judged that the dashboard could potentially mislead some patients about the length of time they may have to wait. Based on our recommendations, Scottish Government implemented improvements to the way that figures were presented in late 2022. In October 2024, Public Health Scotland wrote to us outlining their plans to overhaul the dashboard which will result in a range of improvements in the presentation of the statistics which will provide a better reflection of people’s actual experience of waiting for appointments and treatment.

During the lead up to the 2024 General Election, we published a statement on claims made by the Conservative Government about the UK’s plan to “increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 – an increase of £75 billion”. We determined that the figure of £75 billion did not provide a clear picture to the public as it assumed that annual spending on defence would remain flat in cash terms. If the calculation assumed that defence spending was held at the share of GDP originally planned for 2024-25 then the proposed cash ‘increase’ would drop from £75 billion to £25 billion. Our statement notes: “Cumulating spending increases (or cuts) over several years to derive a large cash figure for presentational purposes does not in general facilitate public understanding of the data in question – the longer the period you choose, the bigger the number you get.”

An evolving statistical system

We consider that the UK data and statistics environment is constantly evolving which presents new challenges and opportunities for official statisticians and analysts. We consider many of these aspects through our reviews and through much of our wider work.

The State of the Statistical System

The State of the Statistical System is an annual report produced by OSR which presents our view on the performance and challenges facing the UK’s statistical system.

The 2023/24 report, published in July 2024, emphasised the increasing strain on the system due to financial and resource pressures, and the need to prioritise core statistics to ensure they are adequately resourced and funded.

To address the issues in the report we set out a number of recommendations. These included that the GSS develop a strategic plan for household data and invest more in its approach to engagement, and that the statistics system shares knowledge and best practice on delivering transformation programmes.

Data sharing and linkage

In 2023 we published a review of data sharing and linkage across government with 16 recommendations for the statistical system as well as a follow up report in July 2024 which assessed the progress that had been made.

Our 2023 report had positive impacts on several projects relating to data sharing and linkage. These impacts include influencing the strategic approach taken by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to reviewing cross-government data sharing policy; developments in the Data Marketplace led by the Central Digital and Data Office (now Government Digital Service); the implementation of Wave 2 of the Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (PEDRI); and technical innovation by the ONS Data Science Campus in developing new privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs).

However, our 2024 follow-on report concluded that despite welcome pockets of innovation, there continues to be a failure to deliver on data sharing and linkage across government, with many persisting barriers to progress. Linking datasets for research, statistics and evaluation – both across government and among external researchers – is not yet the norm in the UK statistical system. To make this a reality, stronger commitments to prioritise data sharing and linkage are required. Such commitments further need to be endorsed and sustainably resourced by senior political and Civil Service leadership.

Our report also acknowledged specific process barriers to data access and linkage. Among these, we noted that concerns that data use cases are often too tightly defined to enable the use of data in policy development are particularly relevant to the success of the Integrated Data Service (IDS). OSR are working with members of the IDS team and the UKSA Research Accreditation Panel to consider programmatic access.

Conclusion

This submission summarises the effective work of OSR, and the tools we use to uphold compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. It shows how our work ensures accountability for the production of official statistics that comply with the principles of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value. This submission also provides clear examples of where our work has identified issues, set requirements, and secured change across a wide suite of statistical outputs and data practices, often against a backdrop of significant issues or concerns.

Ed Humpherson

Office for Statistics Regulation

May 2025

How well served are policy-makers, researchers, businesses and citizens, by the data that ONS produces and the services it provides?

Summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s national statistical institute and largest producer of accredited official statistics. It produces statistics, data and analysis to support a wide range of users including decision makers, researchers, businesses, and citizens. The ONS continually engages with its users to understand and meet their evolving needs and ensure that its outputs and services are of a high quality, accessible and relevant.

As the Committee is aware, the National Statistician, Professor Sir Ian Diamond, resigned earlier this month due to health issues. Emma Rourke, Deputy National Statistician for Health, Population and Methods, will be Acting National Statistician pending longer term arrangements being put in place.

The ONS continues to face challenges including falling survey response rates and operating within a tight financial and human resources environment. We remain committed to continuous improvement of our methods and approaches. Alongside this, there is an ongoing independent review of the performance and culture of the ONS being led by Sir Robert Devereux, former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions and the soon to be completed Spending Review. In this context the ONS continues to review its priorities and will make changes to its work as required, to further strengthen our approach to continuous improvement and enable the organisation to deliver our core mission of providing statistics for the public good.

The Office for National Statistics

The ONS is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority (the Authority). It delivers independent, high quality and relevant statistics and analysis. The wide range of economic and social statistics we produce includes the UK’s National Accounts (such as gross domestic product (GDP)), vital events statistics (such as births, marriages and deaths) and labour market statistics (such as employment, unemployment and earnings) amongst others. The ONS also designs and runs the census in England and Wales every 10 years.

Our statistics and analysis are crucial evidence for decision making and monitoring by central and local government, the health service, businesses, charities and communities across the UK. It also informs public debate.

The ONS responds to changing contexts and user demand for more flexible, tailored and granular data. We are transforming our approach to how we produce statistics across the economy, population and society. This includes advancing data linking across government to enable faster, evidence-based decisions, and gripping the opportunities and challenges of new technologies (such as artificial intelligence (AI), including large language models) to shape and support thriving analytical and statistical systems for the future.

Our priorities are driven by our statutory objective set out in the Statistics and Registration Service Act, the UK Statistics Authority strategy for the statistical system ‘Statistics for the Public Good’, and the relevance and impact of our work to users and the public, with a focus on where we are uniquely placed to deliver.

ONS Strategic Business Plan 2025-2026

We have been open about the challenges the ONS has faced in recent months and set out a renewed focus on our core statistics in the ONS Strategic Business Plan for April 2025-March 2026, published in April 2025. This highlights that delivering our suite of economic and population statistics remains our core function and is reflective of decisions we have made to prioritise resources. GDP, prices, labour market and population statistics take prominence in our outputs.

We remain focused on producing the highest quality statistics and are committed to continuous improvement of our methods and approaches. Alongside our core outputs, we are undertaking vital transformation work, including delivery of our labour market statistics and improving the quality, granularity and timeliness of our prices data. Acknowledging the complexities of the challenges and the vital importance of our statistics to users, we have strengthened our engagement with stakeholders and channels for external challenge, support and expertise to inform our approach.

Our four key strategic priorities which will guide day-to-day activity of the organisation are:

An enhanced reputation for delivering trusted, relevant, independent statistics and analysis.
Top quality published statistics on prices, GDP (including trade and public sector finance), the labour market and population (including births, deaths and migration).
Support the Government’s missions and other users by maximising the use of our statistics and responding to evidence gaps where we are uniquely positioned to do so.
Greater linked data capabilities that result in faster, evidence-based decisions across government.

Given the tight financial and human resources backdrop and the need to prioritise our most critical statistics, difficult decisions, including to stop or reduce work, will need to be made in the coming period. While the prioritisation necessary to remain affordable will not satisfy demand from some users, we will continue to deliver impact by protecting our core deliverables.

Understanding user needs

The services that we provide can only happen when we listen to and work in partnership with our users. We engage with a wide range of users and stakeholders to increase both their understanding of our work as well as our understanding of their evolving needs. We are committed to ensuring our statistics are accessible, inclusive and trustworthy, representing and serving everyone in society.

We engage with users through a range of methods including regular meetings, consultations, stakeholder surveys, events, tailored explainer webinars for specific audiences, focus groups, expert advisory panels and user research.

As well as engaging our users on our statistics and analysis, we regularly seek feedback on their levels of satisfaction. Our most recent feedback showed high levels of use of our core statistics on population and the economy along with agreement that we fulfil our mission to produce “High quality data and analysis to inform the UK, improve lives and build the future”, are trustworthy and that our statistics are relevant and of a high standard.

In listening to users, we are also able to better understand how the challenges we are facing are impacting them. For example, how the impact of falling survey response rates on outputs, specifically labour market statistics, is impacting economic decision making. Users have also highlighted delays to some publications, the need for improvements to our website and a desire for more granular data across multiple topic areas. We fully recognise these points and have plans to address them.

In her Review of the Authority, Professor Denise Lievesley recommended that ‘It is time for the Board to move into a more visible, ambitious space, primarily through establishing a Triennial Statistical Assembly which will consult widely with statistics users and producers to understand the range of views regarding the priorities and data needs for the UK’. In response to this recommendation, we held the inaugural UK Statistics Assembly in January 2025. It was attended by over 550 attendees from a wide variety of sectors and roles.

The Assembly was summarised in an independent report produced by Professor David Hand, the then Chair of the National Statistician’s Expert User Advisory Committee (NSEUAC), and highlighted four high-level priorities for the Authority and Government Statistical Service:

Re-invigorate sustained and effective user engagement
Ensure user needs for more granular statistics are met
Commit to, invest in, and take a leadership position in a significant scaling up in the use of administrative data, as well as improvement of its quality and coherence
Recognise the needs for UK-wide statistics and advocate for, and support, harmonised data where desirable.

We plan to build on the success of the Assembly through a refreshed user engagement strategy, taking these priorities into consideration as we do so. The Authority Chair, Sir Robert Chote, will also deliver a lecture in July setting out the progress of the statistical system and priorities, drawing on the insights of the Assembly and the Office for Statistics Regulation’s (OSR) annual State of the Statistical System report.

Meeting user needs

Through our programmes, transformation work and statistics, the ONS is working hard to deliver statistics and analysis that meet user needs. This has involved significant prioritisation. The following paragraphs provide examples of work we do to understand and meet users’ needs and to inform policy makers, researchers, businesses and citizens.

Dissemination of Statistics

The ONS’s outputs, in line with the rest of the Government Statistical Service (GSS), are regulated by OSR. Equality of access to official statistics is a fundamental principle of statistical good practice. We publish our statistical releases on the ONS website and users are also able to request extra information from the ONS and see the information others have requested.

We are committed to improving the user experience on the ONS website and over the past year have been addressing website performance and stability as well as wider improvements to address feedback from users. We have launched new website page previews, most recently on prices statistics, with new navigation, page designs and smarter content for users to provide feedback on.

Priority issues for decision makers

The ONS works closely with partners to provide responsive analysis that directly address policy priorities, including the missions introduced by the Government. These statistics, and many others across the organisation, provide vital insights for policy formulation across government.

The National Statistician also leads the GSS and Analysis Function. The ONS sits at the heart of the GSS and Analysis Function and works with the network of UK Civil Servants to provide the statistical evidence base, professional advice and analysis required by decision-makers to ensure policy and operations are evidenced and deliver value for money.

This collaborative approach to delivering statistical outputs, responding to analytical demand and the continuous improvement of our statistics across the statistical system will continue to be an underpinning element to our plans in 2025/26.

The ONS’s Analytical Hub has a close partnership with the Joint Data and Analysis Centre (JDAC) in the Cabinet Office where we directly provide data and strategic analysis to support policy and decision making at the heart of government.

Delivering rapid insights in changing circumstances

We publish a range of statistics to provide timely indicators for users covering the effect of developing world events on the UK economy and society.

For example, the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) collects information monthly on a variety of topics relating to people’s experience of daily life and events, including questions about what people feel are important issues, their health and well-being. The content on the survey changes regularly, to keep pace with changing content requirements from users.

The value of these ONS surveys such as the OPN or the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) were prominently demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic. They were regularly updated and adapted to reflect changes in policy and our understanding of the virus. The ONS consulted with a wide range of other government departments on a regular basis as it developed questions.

Real-time indicators are also invaluable for enhancing and developing core statistics by providing timely insights that complement traditional data sources. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the ONS used real-time data from sources like card spending and mobility indicators to quickly gauge economic activity and societal changes.

Providing safe research environments for accredited and approved researchers

We make de-identified record-level data available to accredited or approved researchers through the Secure Research Service (SRS) and the Integrated Data Service (IDS) services to facilitate work on research projects for the public good. The SRS makes static snapshots of data available to researchers using a windows desktop environment and the IDS makes flexible views of indexed data available using the tools and scaling available through the google cloud. The SRS is one of the largest trusted research environments in the UK, around 6,000 accredited researchers having potential access. Of these, around 1,500 are actively working on research projects at any given time.

Building on the success of the SRS, we are now migrating users with the highest value use cases to the IDS, enabling far greater flexibility and broader ranging analysis work programmes.

This will also enable far greater insight into our core national statistics relating for example relating to trade, employment and growth, and the interactions between them at national, regional and local levels.

Delivering Local and Sub-national Insights

ONS Local is a dedicated analytical advisory service for Local Government and local decision makers with team based in each of the English regions, and in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A core part of the team’s role is engaging with local users to understand data and information needs and gaps, in addition to producing bespoke analysis for their local stakeholders. ONS Local and our subnational statistics, together provide unique local information to support national, regional and local leaders’ understanding of topics through a place lens.

To this end, the ONS has developed a tool called Explore Local Statistics, that allows users to find, visualise, compare, and download local data in one place. This service brings together a wealth of data across various topics, including the economy, education, health, and wellbeing, making it easier for local leaders and decision-makers to access the information they need. Users can search for data by postcode, local authority, region, or parliamentary constituency, providing detailed insights into specific areas. The service also allows for comparisons between different areas or clusters with similar demographic or economic characteristics, enhancing the ability to make evidence-based decisions.

How is the UK’s data environment evolving, and what challenges and opportunities does this present official statisticians and analysts?

The UK’s data environment is evolving at pace. There are more data, insights, and opportunities, and the ONS is acting to realise the full value of data while maintaining high levels of trust and transparency.

Challenges remain in streamlining and simplifying approval processes to these new sources and developing the skills and capability to make best use of them, whilst continuing to address the challenges of collecting information from traditional survey sources.

Data capability and skills within our organisation are key. As part of capability building and future proofing, the GSS is collaborating with the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) on a project about the future of the statistical profession examining what the role of a statistician, including their skills and training, will look like in the future.
Below we expand on some of the current opportunities and challenges relating to the evolving data environment.

Survey data collection challenges

Changes in society and the pace of technology are having a direct impact on how people perceive their data and interact with surveys and government services.

ONS surveys, both social and business, are the primary data source for statistical producers in the UK, central to the nation’s most significant economic and social indicators, and despite the increasing use of administrative data, they remain vital.

The sharp fall in household survey response rates both in the UK and internationally is well-known, often linked to an increased difficulty in accessing properties, increased cautiousness to share information, and declining trust in government and public institutions. This can affect data quality and has been evidenced most prominently by the impacts of survey response rates on the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The ONS’s plans for a long-term solution to the challenges faced by the LFS remains the online first Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS), more details about which can be found on the ONS website.

Although integration of administrative data sources is already taking place to produce economic outputs and remains our preferred data source, we recognise that surveys currently still play a vital role in collecting data from businesses. Direct data collection tools also become more important as AI is increasingly used due to the need for new, high-quality data.

Linked to this, but a separate challenge, are our legacy statistical production systems. As highlighted in our business plan, addressing our IT and coding legacy systems remains a key focus for 2025/26.

A legal requirement to complete ONS business surveys, coupled with predominately online collection, has seen business survey response rates improve to pre-pandemic levels.

What the ONS is doing in relation to survey data collection

The ONS is increasingly integrating a wide variety of data sources to produce high-quality research and statistics and adapting survey methodologies to encourage greater coverage. We have built relationships across the public sector to implement regular flows of anonymised administrative data collected as part of the delivery of frontline services, such as tax, benefits, health and education. We have also built relationships with the private sector and other bodies, enabling secure access to anonymised big data, such as aggregated financial transactions and mobile network operator data, and scanner data from supermarket sales.

The ONS has a vision for a more efficient and effective social survey system delivered through innovative use of administrative and alternative data across the survey end-to-end. We are also exploring and embedding opportunities to use AI and other innovative digital technology across the survey end-to-end. This will significantly improve how we meet changing data user needs with a sustainable, robust, resilient and agile survey delivery system.

To enable urgent quality improvements to the social surveys feeding economic statistics, we received additional funding from HM Treasury in 2024/25. This was invested in increasing our interviewer numbers, implementation of changes to bolster retention, and increasing incentives for survey respondents. This has helped to improve performance on key surveys, but we need to do more to improve performance across our full survey portfolio. Our survey recovery strategy, including focused resources in this area, will help us continue to improve response rates in an increasing challenging environment.

The ONS is already transforming how we collect data to an integrated and modularised suite of surveys through our Business Survey Strategy. This will reduce the burden placed on businesses and improve engagement, improving the quality of the data we collect. We are also expanding the use of AI and moving to cloud-based collection and production systems.

Administrative data

Many opportunities and challenges are linked to the growing scale and types of data that are available, in particular, the proliferation of administrative data within the public sector and the growth in alternative, big data.

The increasing availability and content of administrative data present the opportunity for the ONS to produce more frequent and timely statistics that sustain a better level of quality over time.

The quality of administrative data varies, with issues including data completeness, differences between concepts (including reporting periods), timeliness and frequency of data deliveries, consistency of data deliveries and the availability of metadata. Nonetheless, linking administrative data with survey data provides valuable insights into how they can be used to improve our understanding of survey bias, and to develop new outputs that make the most of the strengths of all sources.

The ONS has been investigating the use of primarily administrative data to produce annual population estimates, and a range of other types of estimates historically enabled only by the census. The ONS has worked with statistical offices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to consider the viability of taking similar approaches across the UK, with an agreement on this topic signed in November 2022.

This is an area of ongoing research and development, and the Authority is set to announce its recommendation on the future of the census in England and Wales in the summer.

The ONS has already moved to administrative measures of international migration due to unavoidable challenges with its traditional sources for these statistics. The ONS has confidence in the long-term strategy for migration estimates, and their future coherence with admin-based population estimates, and we are working with users to increase confidence as new methods mature.

A key enabler of this work is improving the sustainability of the supply of administrative data to the ONS, and improvements to their content and quality, working in partnership with data suppliers.

As we consider embedding new methods, and question the role a potential future census might play in the ONS’s long-term statistical design for population statistics, there is a need to balance ambitions for research and development alongside the requirement for a steady state of operational delivery in line with user needs, and resource constraints. This is a challenge for the whole of the UK, not just the ONS.

Data sharing across Government

Through extensive engagement across government departments, we are making some progress in acquiring new administrative data sources. However, this continues to be very time consuming, and each data sharing agreement can take months or years to agree.

Data owners are understandably risk adverse, often resulting in complex agreements, with conditions varying significantly between sources. In her Review of the UK Statistics Authority, Professor Denise Lievesley highlighted that ‘systemic and cultural barriers to responsible data sharing between government departments’ hamper the Authority’s efficacy, including the work of the IDS.

We continue to work with other government departments to remove blockers and simplify approval processes, and we hope plans to develop a National Data Library will increase the focus on resolving these challenges.

Data linking

The ONS has developed a suite of core linkage indexes covering business, the population and addresses which enables datasets to be safely de-identified and linked at scale without the need to share personal data with analysts. This linkage enables full exploration of the utility of administrative data for statistics and supports addressing data gaps going forward.

Using this approach, we are aiming to increase standardisation of data production and usage within not only the ONS but across the public sector.

With advances in AI, there is further opportunity to use the new technology to bring efficiencies to data processing and to improve data quality. However, this opportunity cannot be fully realised unless data has foundational quality such as high-quality metadata and clear governance, ethical and security frameworks in place. Good progress is being made in the ONS piloting the use of Generative AI to speed up data processing and improve user experience.

The National Data Library

The ONS continues to support the Government Digital Service (GDS) and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) on initiatives to improve data sharing, including the development of the Data Ownership Model for Government, identification of Essential Shared Data Assets and data discovery through the Data Marketplace.

Plans for a National Data Library (NDL), whilst still in the discovery phase, give a further opportunity to drive alignment across data sharing infrastructure services.

The ONS has shared key lessons relating to data sharing with DSIT as part of the NDL discovery, and we continue to help shape the longer-term solution. There will clearly be a role to signpost to the right service, support users access the right platform for their needs, and address data sharing barriers across the eco-system, particularly to support the government deliver its missions.

Office for National Statistics

May 2025

Office for Statistics Regulation written evidence to the Modernisation Committee’s inquiry into the work of the committee

Dear Ms Powell,

As Director General of Regulation at the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), I am writing following the Modernisation Committee’s call for evidence on the work of the Committee.

The OSR is the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority and plays a key role in protecting public confidence in the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics produced and used by government. We consider statistics to be the lifeblood of democratic debate and that misuse of statistics results in an erosion of trust in Government.

We are responsible for setting the standards that official statistics must meet in the Code of Practice for Statistics. We also use our voice to stand up for statistics and represent the interests of the public by investigating concerns raised with us (referred to as casework) about the dissemination and use of statistics, reporting publicly where necessary.

We have two key areas that we would like to bring to the attention of the Modernisation Committee that we consider would contribute to the strategic aim of driving up standards and restoring public trust.

Intelligent Transparency

Why this topic would benefit from the attention of the Modernisation Committee

Intelligent transparency ensures public understanding of, and confidence in, numbers used by governments. It involves proactively taking an open, clear, and accessible approach to the release and use of data and statistics so that they can be easily accessed, scrutinised and used appropriately.

Our principles for intelligent transparency are:

Equality of access – Data used by government in the public domain should be made available to all in an accessible and timely way. Our expectation is that figures used by MPs in a public forum should already be publicly available. This ensures that any claims made are evidenced, verifiable and able to be scrutinised.
Ease of understanding – Sources for figures should be cited and appropriate explanation of context, including strengths and limitations, communicated clearly alongside figures. Our expectation is that MPs use statistics in a fair and accurate way that supports understanding and is not misleading.
Independent decision making and leadership – Decisions about the publication of statistics and data, such as content and timing, should be independent of political influence and policy processes. Our expectation is that MPs will not interfere with the independent process of publishing statistics.

We have worked closely with the Heads of Profession for Statistics network across government departments to deliver training and raise awareness of intelligent transparency. We have had considerable successful engaging with civil servants including statisticians, analysts, communication professions, policy teams and Permanent Secretaries. However, to date, we have had limited direct contact with MPs and Ministers. Given that the full success of intelligent transparency is dependent on all being aware of it, across government and parliament, we would encourage parliamentary committees and individual MPs to be aware of the principles of intelligent transparency in their work.

It is our view that the Modernisation Committee could play a key role in ensuring that the principles of intelligent transparency are fully embraced and embedded across parliament as the default approach for communicating statistics. This will ensure that statistics are used by MPs in a way that supports public trust.

Existing work relevant to this topic

We have a range of publicly available materials including guidance, FAQs and several blogs.

Our most recent blog comments on a claim made by the Prime Minister at the Labour Party Conference, specifically that there had been “a 23 per cent increase in returns of people who have no right to be here, compared with last summer.” This claim was based on unpublished Home Office data and resulted in us requesting that the Home Office publish an ad hoc release containing the underlying data in advance of the official statistics publication. Cases such as these can result in confusion over the source of the claim, negative media coverage and a disruption to the orderly release of official statistics.

Whilst much of the regulatory work we do is behind the scenes, we have written publicly on several cases relating to intelligent transparency. Key examples include:

A statement by OSR (June 2024) relating to the claim made by the Conservative Party that “a Labour government would mean £2,000 of tax rises per working household”. The statement concludes that without reading the full Conservative Party costing document, someone hearing the claim would have no way of knowing that this is an estimate summed together over four years.
Sir Robert Chote to Rt Hon Richard Holden Party Spending Claims (June 2024) relating to the claim by the Labour Party that the Conservative Party would “raise people’s mortgages by £4,800.” The letter states that: “When distilling these claims into a single number, there should be enough context to allow the average person to understand what it means and how significant it is. Omitting this information can damage trust in the data and the claims that these data inform.”

Ed Humpherson to Matthew Rycroft transparency of home office statistics (November 2022) which sets out our concerns regarding the use of unpublished Home Office data and statistics by Priti Patel (then Home Secretary), Rishi Sunak (then Prime Minister) and Robert Jenrick (then Minister for Immigration)

It is important to note that there have been several high-profile endorsements of intelligent transparency including:

A PACAC report on ‘Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base’ (May 2024) which commended our work on intelligent transparency and recommended that OSR publish an annual report card of departments’ compliance with this guidance so that “Parliament and external bodies might support OSR in holding departments to account and making the case for well-informed policy.” We are currently exploring options for what annual reporting could look like.
A private letter from Sir Robert Chote, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, to new Secretaries of State on ‘Support for ensuring statistics serve the public good’ (October 2024). We have received positive replies to this letter from several Secretaries of State demonstrating their support for these principles.
A public letter from Sir Robert Chote, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, to political party leaders ahead of the general election (June 2024).
A private letter from Alex Chisholm (then Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary) to Permanent Secretaries on the ‘Transparency in use of statistics’ (April 2022).
Full Fact Report 2023 summarises our involvement in several key cases that relate to the principles of intelligent transparency and notes that: “In 2022 alone the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) had to write to Government departments at least ten times about the lack of transparency in their use of statistics.”
A PACAC report on ‘Government transparency and accountability during Covid 19: The data underpinning decisions’ (March 2021) which states that “statistics quoted by Ministers have not always been underpinned by published data, which goes against the UKSA Code of Practice. Publishing the underlying data is key to transparency and building trust. When the underlying data is not published, numbers may be used to make politicised points and members of the public, journalists and Parliamentarians have no way of verifying the information shared. This means constructive debate cannot happen. When Ministers or senior officials quote statistics, the underlying data must be published.”

Strengthening the Ministerial Code

Why this topic would benefit from the attention of the Modernisation Committee

The current version of the Ministerial Code states that: “Ministers need to be mindful of the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice which defines good practice in relation to official statistics, observance of which is a statutory requirement on all organisations that produce National Statistics in accordance with the provisions of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.”

In his October letter to Secretaries of State, Sir Robert Chote asked that “[Secretaries of State] consider going beyond the letter of the Ministerial Code, from merely being mindful to complying with the Code of Practice for Statistics.”

As the Ministerial Code provides the foundation for setting standards across parliament, we consider that strengthening the Code in relation to the Code of Practice for Statistics will protect against the misuse of statistics. Strengthening the Ministerial Code will also signal that MPs are fully committed to upholding the standards of Trustworthiness, thus supporting confidence.

Recently there have been several calls in favour of strengthening the Ministerial Code in relation to the Code of Practice for Statistics. It was our hope that this would have been incorporated in the most recent update to the Ministerial Code which took place in November, however this was not the case.

Existing work relevant to this topic

Over the past few years, there have been several calls in favour of strengthening the Ministerial Code including:

The independent review of the UK Statistics Authority by Professor Denise Lievesley CBE (March 2024) which stated that “As the current and former Chairs of the UKSA and PACAC have noted, there is scope to strengthen the Ministerial Code to mandate adherence to the UKSA Code of Practice for Statistics. This Review concurs.” The review goes on to state that: “bolstering the Code in this way will send a clear signal to the country that Ministers are holding themselves to the highest account.”
A letter from the Royal Statistical Society to Secretaries of State (July 2024) which calls for Secretaries of State to “pledge to abide by the Code of Practice of Statistics – rather than merely being mindful of it as the current Ministerial Code requires.”
A letter from Full Fact to the Prime Minister (July 2024) which asked that the PM “Make the Ministerial Code statutory, and incorporate compulsory adherence to the Code of Practice for Statistics.”
Feedback in OSR’s review of the Code of Practice for Statistics in 2023 highlighted how helpful producers and users find OSR’s regulatory guidance on Intelligent Transparency and requested that it be incorporated into the Code. OSR is now consulting on a proposed third edition of the Code of Practice which includes Standards for Intelligent Transparency that those in public bodies should meet when using statistics to support statements in the public domain.
A PACAC report on ‘Government transparency and accountability during Covid 19: The data underpinning decisions’ (March 2021) which stated that: “The Ministerial Code needs to be strengthened so it is clear that Ministers are required to abide by the UKSA Code of Practice in their presentation of data. The UKSA Code includes the principle of trustworthiness that builds ‘confidence in the people and organisations that produce statistics and data’. Abiding by the UKSA Code of Practice is a statutory requirement for Government Departments. It is simply not enough to ask Ministers to be “mindful” of the UKSA code.”

I hope this evidence is useful to the Committee. Please let us know if you have any questions or if the OSR can support the Committee further in its inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Humpherson

Director General for Regulation

Office for Statistics Regulation supplementary evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry on Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base

Dear Mr Wragg,

Thank you very much for the opportunity to give evidence to your Committee as part of the Transforming the UK Evidence Base inquiry on 6 February. I enjoyed the session and I hope that you found my evidence useful.

I am writing to provide some supplementary evidence related to comparability of statistics across the UK.

During the session, I set out the expectations we have as the Office for Statistics Regulation for statistics producers on questions of comparability. I emphasised that where there are questions from users around how to compare the performance of public services across the UK, producers in the four nations should recognise and seek to meet that need.

Meeting that need is not straightforward. As I explained, the configuration of public services will probably be different, because of different policy and delivery choices that have been made by the different governments. This is consistent with the concept of devolution, but it does mean that administrative data may be collected and reported on different bases.

However, it is not in our view sufficient for producers to simply argue that statistics are not comparable. They should recognise the user demand, and explain how their statistics do, and do not, compare with statistics in other parts of the UK. And they should also undertake analysis to try to identify measures that do allow for comparison.

A very good example of this approach is provided by statisticians in the Welsh Government. Their Chief Statistician published two blogs on the comparability of health statistics, Comparing NHS performance statistics across the UK and Comparing NHS waiting list statistics across the UK. These blogs recognise the user demand and provides several insights to enable users to make comparisons of NHS performance.

In addition, the Welsh Government’s monthly NHS performance release also highlights what can, and cannot, be compared. For example, it shows that in November 2023, there were approximately 22 patient pathways open for every 100 people, while for England, the figure in November was 13 pathways for every 100 people. More generally, I would commend the Chief Statistician’s blogs as a good example of providing guidance and insight to users across a wide range of statistical issues.

During my evidence session I also mentioned the approach taken by NHS England to highlight the most comparable accident and emergency statistics. NHS England provide a Home Nations Comparison file for hospital accident and emergency activity each year.

More generally, the ONS is leading comparability work across a range of measures. In addition to work on health comparability, they have produced very good analysis of differences in fuel poverty measurement across the four nations.

I hope this additional evidence is useful. I would like to reiterate that these examples show statisticians recognising the core point – that there is a user demand for comparability and that they are taking steps to meet that demand.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Humpherson

Director General for Regulation

Office for Statistics Regulation oral evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry on Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base

On Tuesday 6 February, Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation at the Office for Statistics Regulation, gave evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee for their inquiry on Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base.

A transcript of which has been published on the UK Parliament website.

Office for Statistics Regulation written evidence to the Transport Committee’s inquiry on the future of transport data

Dear Mr Stewart,

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) supports and encourages innovation and improvement in data and statistics. As the OSR Programme Lead for systemic reviews, I welcome the opportunity to respond to the call for evidence for the Transport Committee’s inquiry ‘Future of Transport Data’.

The OSR is the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority. In line with the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007), our principal roles are to:

Set the statutory Code of Practice for Statistics
Assess compliance with the Code to ensure statistics serve the public, in line with the pillars of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value. We do this through our regulatory work that includes assessments, systemic reviews, compliance checks and casework.
Award the National Statistics designation to official statistics that comply fully with the Code.
Report any concerns on the quality, good practice and comprehensiveness of official statistics.

As part of our planned programme of systemic reviews, in February 2022 we published the UK wide Review of transport accessibility statistics. Accessible transport plays a key role in having an equal society and describes a transport network which allows all users equal opportunity to travel when they want, where they want, how they want, at a price they can afford. I would like to take this opportunity to share the key findings from this review and our wider views on data sharing and data linkage across government that may be of interest to the Committee for this inquiry.

Please let me know if you have any follow up questions or if OSR can support the Committee further in its inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Gail Rankin

Office for Statistics Regulation written evidence, ‘Future of Transport Data’,

Review of Transport Accessibility Statistics

Gaps in Transport Data

We found that that whilst many statistics on transport and transport use are well developed, existing official statistics are not fully answering the key questions of those with a specific interest in the accessibility of transport networks. These include:
- Statistics on entire journeys: Current data are largely focused on measuring constituent parts of the transport experience, rather than entire journeys. As such, the connections between legs of journeys, which may pose significant challenges to disabled people, are not taken account of and statistics producers were unable to quantify how many opportunities people have missed out on due to failures or barriers in the transport network.
- Survey data from disabled people: Across a wide range of policy areas, including transport, disabled people are systematically excluded from statistics which are based on surveys. The reasons for this are varied. Some individuals live in establishments such as care homes that are not included in samples based on households and survey questionnaires may not have been adapted to enable completion by those with some disabilities.
- Granular data: Users of data and statistics told us of their need for more geographical and demographic information. We heard that often sample sizes were too small to allow for local authority or regional breakdowns, particularly in being able to differentiate the experiences of those living in urban areas and those who live in rural areas.
We looked at the three most commonly mentioned barriers to travel: affordability, safety and journey times, as well as at modal specific data gaps and concerns about data granularity. Data about the average cost per journey, for example costs for commuters of making the same journey by different modes of transport, was not published in England, Scotland, or Wales.
Some organisations raised concerns about the lack of, and poor quality of data available about physical abuse and hate crimes on public transport, particularly towards disabled people. We found that generally statistics were only available at a high level with limited detail, making the data difficult to analyse to form a coherent understanding of what was happening.
We found opportunities to improve data about a variety of modes of transport. This included Community Transport in England, bus and coach travel in Northern Ireland, and the accessibility of railway stations across Great Britain. In addition, our research highlighted concerns that statistics about walking and wheeling and taxi services did not reflect the lived experiences of disabled people.
Users also told us that a greater number of age breakdowns would be beneficial, for example to identify whether the experiences of young adults with disabilities varies from that of older adults with disabilities.

Bringing data and statistics together

We found that both qualitative and quantitative data are needed to understand the experiences of those accessing transport. When qualitative and quantitative data are brought together, they can help to paint an insightful and engaging picture.
Some statistics users are not aware of the extent of available data and statistics, suggesting that engagement with users could be improved and existing publications could be promoted more. We also found that once users had identified the relevant statistics, data or analysis, many publications provide only a snapshot of experiences, making it difficult to understand how these are changing over time.

Our UK wide recommendations

We recommended that statistics should be developed which reflect the lived experience of disabled people to support a focus on removing barriers to access.
All producers of transport statistics should aim to publish data and analysis that are already being collected or produced to improve transparency of ministerial statements and policy development, and to increase clarity and value from the findings.
The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Office of Rail and Road should work together to publish and regularly update statistics about the accessibility of train stations across Great Britain, covering accessible infrastructure to support those with different types of disabilities (such as step free access for those with mobility impairments) and geographical breakdowns.
The DfT should explore whether new or existing data, for example the English National Travel Survey, can be used to fill data gaps highlighted in the report, for example around community and coach travel.
Transport Scotland and Transport for Wales should publish internal analysis on journey times and seek user engagement on what else is needed to support local understanding and policy development.
The Office of Rail and Road should work with the DfT and the Rail Delivery Group to develop a publication about the use and impact of railcards, drawing on data from the Rail Delivery Group and other sources, such as the English National Travel Survey.
All statistics producers should explore where further demographic breakdowns of survey data provide new insights into the experiences of different population groups and publish data where this could be of interest to users. For example, new urban-rural splits of national figures, and more age breakdowns, such as focussing on the experiences of younger adults.
We are currently looking at what progress has been made towards achieving these recommendations, noting that some will require longer term changes to be secured. We would be happy to share updates on these with the Committee when they are published.

Data sharing and linkage across government

The pandemic provided a strong impetus to share data for the public good. There has been some excellent progress in creating linked datasets and making them available for research, analysis, and statistics. However, despite the value of sharing and linking data being widely recognised, there remains areas of challenge and uncertainties about the public’s attitude to, and confidence in, data sharing.
OSR has been monitoring and commenting on data sharing and linkage across government for a number of years. Our most recent report on Data Sharing and Linkage for the Public Good was published on 12 July 2023 and takes stock of the current data sharing and linkage landscape across government, specifically exploring the barriers and opportunities to this.
Of the 16 recommendations set out in the report, the recommendations we consider most relevant to this call for evidence are as follows.
- Report recommendation 1: Social Licence. The government needs to be aware of the public’s views on data sharing and linkage, and to understand existing or emerging concerns. Public surveys such as the ‘Public attitudes to data and AI: Tracker survey’ by the Centre for Data, Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) provide valuable insight. They should be maintained and enhanced, for example to include data linking.
- Report recommendation 3: The Five Safes Framework. Since the Five Safes Framework was developed twenty years ago, new technologies to share and link data have been introduced and data linkage of increased complexity is occurring. As the Five Safes Framework is so widely used across data access platforms, we recommend that the UK Statistics Authority review the framework to consider whether there are any elements or supporting material that could be usefully updated
- Report recommendation 4: Privacy Enhancing Technologies. To enable wider sharing of data in a secure way, government should continue to explore the potential for Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) to be used to enhance security and protect privacy where data are personally identifiable. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Data Science Campus is well placed to lead and coordinate this work.
- Report recommendation 5: Data Literacy in Government. To gain the skills to create and support a data-aware culture, it is important for senior leaders to have awareness of and exposure to data issues. One way to raise awareness and exposure would be for senior leaders to ensure that they participate in the Data Masterclass delivered by the ONS Data Science Campus in partnership with the 10 Downing Street (No10) Data Science Team.
- Report recommendation 7: Arbitration Process. To facilitate greater data sharing among organisations within government, a clear arbitration process, potentially involving ministers, should be developed for situations in which organisations cannot agree on whether data shares can or should occur. Developing such an arbitration process could be taken on by the Cabinet Office, commissioned by the Cabinet Secretary and delivered working with partners such as No10 and the ONS.
- Report recommendation 10: Broader use cases for data. To support re-use of data where appropriate, those creating data sharing agreements should consider whether restricting data access to a specific use case is essential or whether researchers could be allowed to explore other beneficial use cases, aiming to broaden the use case were possible.

UK Statistics Authority oral evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry on the work of the UK Statistics Authority

On Tuesday 23 May, Sir Robert Chote, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Ian Diamond, National Statistician and Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation, gave evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry on the work of the UK Statistics Authority.

A transcript of which has been published on the UK Parliament website.

Office for Statistics Regulation written evidence to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee’s inquiry into Funding for Levelling Up

Dear Mr Betts,

I write in response to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee’s inquiry into Funding for Levelling Up.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) is the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority and provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK. We aim to enhance public confidence in the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics produced by government through setting, and assessing compliance with, the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Like the Committee, we strongly advocate for the transparency of data that are in the public interest and required for key decisions underpinning policy making. Our expectations are outlined in our guidance on intelligent transparency. We would like to see greater clarity and transparency around the data that are required to understand progress against the UK Government’s levelling up policy commitments. This includes both data on funding for levelling up policies and the metrics that will be used to measure the outcomes. Where there are new or existing data of sufficient quality and at the level of granularity users require, we would like to see greater transparency and accessibility of those data.

We are aware that the Committee wrote to Neil O’ Brien MP, then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Levelling Up, asking for further information around the various funding programmes for levelling up policies and his response, accompanied by a funding map dataset, was published on the Committee’s webpages. As far as we can tell, this has not been published elsewhere. We are aware that the Committee has concerns about the table that was provided, which is limited in terms of its utility, and the guidance needed for a comprehensive interpretation of the figures. There will clearly be interest from the Committee and others in updated versions of this table as the levelling up agenda progresses, and other funds are allocated.

We see that there is a case for developing a more publicly accessible version that could sit on gov.uk, rather than a future update coming out again as an annex to a committee letter. This separate publication could then include the necessary additional information required to interpret the data in a more informed manner and be developed to improve its utility for understanding the outcome of bids for different levelling up funding streams, as well as clarity on periodicity and sources of funding. This should be published in an accessible form, in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

We corresponded with Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) from August 2021 to November 2021, asking for greater transparency around data on the Levelling Up Fund and the related ‘prioritisation of places model’. This led to a positive outcome and a commitment from DLUHC to the data that inform key decisions available. When the next round of levelling up funding allocations is announced we expect to see published data that is supported by a methodology and links to the source data. This should allow users to recreate the funding model for the allocation of priorities areas and enhance public confidence in the decisions that are being made.

DLUHC has set up the Office for Local Government (Oflog) which is tasked with bringing together data to understand local government performance in relation to value for money and publishing its conclusions in an annual report. This information could be used to monitor local authorities’ performance against aspects levelling up objectives based on the funding that they receive and may add to the case for developing a published levelling up funding series. We also note that the Levelling Up White Paper outlines that “devolved governments are best placed to deliver certain services like health and education” – as a result at some point there may be a need to publish transparent information on the performance of these services, in relation to the funds allocated to them.

We understand that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is receiving funding from DLUHC to develop subnational data and has started publishing its subnational data explorer. The data explorer provides helpful explanations and includes a ‘data dictionary’ that accompanies the supporting dataset. We think the ONS’s approach to publishing subnational data could serve as a good example for other departments looking to publish their own data relating to levelling up policies in a transparent and accessible way.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can support the Committee further in its inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Humpherson

Director General for Regulation

Office for Statistics Regulation written evidence to the DCMS Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation inquiry on misinformation and trusted voices

Dear Mr Knight,

I write in response to the inquiry Misinformation and trusted voices, as conducted by the DCMS Sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation.

Which organisations are the most trusted sources of information in the UK?

The Office for Statistics Regulation is the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority and provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK. It aims to enhance public confidence in the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics produced by government through setting, and assessing compliance with, the Code of Practice for Statistics1. In addition, one of our key roles is to use our voice to stand up for statistics and to represent the public, monitoring and reporting publicly where we have concerns about the dissemination and use of statistics and highlighting good practice.

The Code of Practice for Statistics has three pillars: Trustworthiness, Quality and Value. The three pillars work together to provide the conditions to support public confidence in statistics, which relates directly to the question the Committee is asking. In particular, we distinguish trust – a belief on the part of individuals – from trustworthiness – a property of organisations. Trustworthiness is about providing evidence that the systems, processes and governance surrounding statistics are effective. However, we never consider trustworthiness in isolation. We consider all three pillars to determine whether statistics are fully compliant with the Code of Practice and can be designated as National Statistics. This designation demonstrates to users that they can have confidence in the relevant official statistics.

One source that can give some insight into levels of trust in official statistics is the 2021 study of public confidence in official statistics. It found that, amongst people who responded, there was high confidence in the statistical system. While respondents did not necessarily know about the Authority or the OSR, there was strong support for our role, with 96% of respondents agreeing there should be an independent body to speak out against the misuse of statistics and 94% agreeing that such a body should ensure that statistics are produced free from political interference. Regarding the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the largest producer of official statistics in the UK, 87% of respondents reported that they trusted ONS statistics. The public value of statistics has also been shown through 92% of respondents who had used COVID-19 data reporting them being useful. Although this is only one source, and we are careful not to place too much weight on a single survey result, we do consider that this provides some reassurance around public confidence in official statistics.

In addition to official statistics producers, there is a wider ecosystem of statistics and data. Many of these other sources of statistics and data inform policy and public debate and it is important that they are used for the public good. We encourage producers outside of the official statistics producer community to apply the Code of Practice for Statistics on a voluntary basis. Our annual award for Statistical Excellence in Trustworthiness, Quality and Value recognises those who voluntarily apply the core pillars of the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Is the provision of authoritative information responsive enough to meet the challenge of misinformation that is spread on social media?

Our view is that the best way to combat misinformation is to ensure that information that is trustworthy, high quality and high value is made available to the public. In this way, the good information can drive out the bad.

However, we recognise that it is hard to live up to this ideal. The experience of the pandemic is instructive. As we noted in our recent State of the Statistical System report, there are a variety of organisations and individuals commenting on the use of statistics by government. The COVID-19 pandemic in particular was associated with an increase in the role of citizens as ‘armchair epidemiologists’. We wrote a blog highlighting how open data enabled great work to be done to communicate data on COVID-19 publicly from outside the official statistics system, including on social media. This demonstrated the changing statistical landscape of increased commentary around official statistics at its best.

Since the pandemic there has continued to be an increased interest in and scrutiny of statistics. This is a positive for the statistics system but also brings risk. Much discussion of statistics takes place on social media with increased risks around misuse, misinterpretation and ‘echo chambers’. Official statistics producers need to be aware of these changes in the use of statistics.

Areas that we highlight in our report that can help official statistics producers meet the challenge of misinformation that is spread on social media include:

improving how uncertainty in statistics is communicated to bring effective insight;

an increase in government statisticians challenging the inappropriate use of statistics and engaging directly with users to support understanding of statistics; and
intelligent transparency around statistics, data and wider analysis.

Intelligent transparency means proactively taking an open, clear and accessible approach to the release and use of data, statistics and wider analysis. As set out in our regulatory guidance on transparency, intelligent transparency is informed by three core principles: equality of access, enhancing understanding and analytical leadership. It is about more than just getting the data out there. Intelligent transparency is about thinking about transparency from the outset of policy development, getting data and statistics out at the right time to support thinking and decisions on an issue, supporting the wider public need for information and presenting the data and statistics in a way that aids understanding and prevents misinterpretation.

In conclusion, a constant refrain of the OSR is that it is important to ensure that the bad data does not drive out the good. However, as long as producers have the right approach, based on trustworthiness, quality and value, good statistics can thrive.

Please let me know if any questions or if I can support the Committee further in its inquiry.

Yours sincerely 

Ed Humpherson 

Director General for Regulation

Office for Statistics Regulation written evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Covid-19 Recovery Committee’s inquiry on pre-budget scrutiny

Dear Ms Brown,

I am writing to make you and the Committee aware that on 30 August 2022 the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has published an update to our March 2021 review of the COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS). The CIS measures how many people living in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England test positive for a COVID-19 infection at a given point in time, regardless of whether they experience symptoms. In Scotland, the statistics contribute to ongoing surveillance of the coronavirus pandemic, along with other sources such as genomic sequencing to identify new variants, testing in health and social care settings, and wastewater surveillance.

The CIS is therefore a key component of public health surveillance in Scotland. In line with its importance, we have maintained a close regulatory focus on how the survey is conducted and on how the results are calculated and presented. The background to our latest review is that in June 2022, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced changes to the survey, introducing a digital questionnaire and sending swab and blood sample kits by post. These changes reflected plans to maintain a scaled back version of the CIS set out by the UK Government in its Living with COVID-19 plan.

In light of the ONS’s changes, we agreed with the ONS that we would undertake a further review of the statistics against the Code of Practice for Statistics. This update looks at whether, and to what extent, the statistics from this survey continue to serve the public good.

Our review highlights the ongoing value of the CIS. Given the cessation of the REACT study and changes in testing regimes by governments across the UK, these statistics are now the most up-to-date, reliable source on COVID-19 infections. They contribute to scientific advice provided to governments, including the Scottish Government, informing decisions on the ongoing management of the pandemic. In Scotland, the statistics are reported on weekly by Public Health Scotland in its COVID-19 statistical report. Public Health Scotland states that the statistics are the “current best understanding of community population prevalence”. The statistics from the CIS contribute to the estimate of the reproduction (R) number for Scotland, also published in Public Health Scotland’s report. This provides an assessment of whether the pandemic is shrinking or growing. And there is a high level of public interest in the survey – people really value the statistics and many use them to make day-to-day decisions, including potentially serious decisions for those vulnerable to COVID-19.  

Our review makes several recommendations to the ONS regarding ongoing improvements to the statistics:

The ONS should ensure that devolved administrations have appropriate input at the programme level. The ONS has built good working-level relationships with the devolved administrations, including statisticians in the Scottish Government. However, we consider that devolved administrations would benefit from increased engagement at a senior level, for example to ensure that they can input to decisions relating to changes to the survey.
The ONS should continue to inform users about the impacts of the change in mode to digital data collection on the statistics. We found that for the statistics to remain as valuable as possible, it is important for many users, particularly those in the devolved administrations, that granular breakdowns are still available following changes to the survey mode. We are encouraged to see ONS’s plans to understand and publish information about the change in mode. This includes information on any impact on the response rates and sample, and therefore the representativeness of the survey. The ONS recently published their initial findings on the effects of the change of mode which offers a first insight into many of these aspects.
The ONS should ensure it keeps users informed about development plans, even if these plans are tentative and subject to change. While we appreciate that the ONS is working in a fast-moving environment and that decisions about the survey may sit with other partners, we consider that it could have done more to keep users informed in a clear and timely way about planned or potential changes to the survey. It will be particularly important for the ONS to keep users informed about the future of the survey as the financial year ends.
The ONS should also consider how the CIS can be adapted to play a role in understanding public health in future. The coronavirus pandemic reinforced the need for statistics to inform society about public health. In our review of lessons learned for health and social care statistics during the pandemic we highlighted the need for statistics producers across the UK to continue to develop outputs which go beyond operational data in order to support a better understanding of public health.

I know the Committee is currently holding evidence sessions for their pre-Budget scrutiny on the COVID-19 strategic framework and are looking specifically at surveillance measures. I hope this letter will help inform the Committee’s work on the subject.

Please do let me know if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely

Ed Humpherson
Director General for Regulation

Office for Statistics Regulation written evidence to the Procedure Committee’s inquiry on correcting the record

Dear Ms Bradley,

I write in response to the Committee’s call for evidence for its inquiry Correcting the record.

The UK Statistics Authority and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), as its regulatory arm, have a responsibility to ensure that official statistics meet the public good. We provide independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK, and aim to enhance public confidence in the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics produced by government. We do this by setting the standards official statistics must meet in the Code of Practice for Statistics. We ensure that producers of official statistics uphold these standards by conducting assessments against the Code. Those which meet the standards are given National Statistics status, indicating that they meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and value.

We also report publicly on systemwide issues and on the way that statistics are being used, celebrating when the standards are upheld and challenging publicly when they are not, intervening when statistics are either misused publicly, or quoted without sources being made clear. Our interventions policy explains how we make these judgements in a considered and proportionate way.

Key to our interventions is the ask that people practise intelligent transparency. Transparency and clarity support public confidence and trust in statistics and the organisations that produce them and minimises the risk of misinterpretation of statistics and data. Transparency allows individuals to reach informed decisions, answer important questions and provide a mechanism for holding governments to account. Statistics and data also underpin successful implementation of government policies, and individuals’ views on the effectiveness of policy decisions.

Intelligent transparency is informed by three principles:

Equality of access: Data quoted publicly, for example in parliament or the media, should be made available to all in a transparent way. This includes providing sources and appropriate explanation of context, including strengths and limitations.
Understanding: Analytical professions need to work together to provide data which enhances understanding of societal and economic matters, including the impacts of policy. Governments should consider data needs when developing policy and be transparent in sharing analytical and research plans and outputs with the public.
Leadership: Organisations need strong analytical leadership, within and beyond analytical professions. Decisions about the publication of statistics and data, such as content and timing, should be independent of political and policy processes. These decisions should be made by analytical leaders, who should also be given freedom to collaborate across organisational boundaries to support statistics that serve the public good. Their expertise and decision-making authority should be endorsed by Permanent Secretaries.

As tools for understanding public policy, statistics and data rightly belong at the heart of Parliamentary debate. They can be a powerful support to an argument. In the pressured environment of an oral debate, it is only natural that some of these references to statistics, though made in good faith, will be misremembered, unclear, or misattributed. In these circumstances, it is always welcome when MPs make the effort to furnish the record with clarifications or additional information about their sources. This not only ensures that the House is fully informed, but also meaningfully improves the quality of media reporting and subsequent public debate.

At other times an MP may quote statistics correctly but confuse data from a private source with that already in the public domain. In particular, Ministers (who under the Ministerial Code are required to be mindful of the Code of Practice for Statistics) have access to a wide range of published and unpublished information from their departments and should take care to rely on the former when making their statements. However, as set out in our guidance for the transparent release and use of statistics and data, when unpublished information is used unexpectedly, statistical officials in Government departments can play their role in setting the record straight by publishing the information as soon as possible in an accessible form, ideally on the same day. This can be done via an ad-hoc release, which need not be long, or technical. For example, the Department for Work and Pensions has a page dedicated to ad hoc statistical analyses.

Our aim, one that we would hope the Committee agrees with, would be to see intelligent transparency being the default for all statistics and data, including those used by Ministers and parliamentarians.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely

Ed Humpherson
Director General for Regulation