Members in attendance

• Professor Jonathan Haskel (Chair)
• Jonathan Camfield (Lane Clark & Peacock)
• Richard Gibson (Barnett Waddingham)
• Simon Kirby (Bank of England)
• Jill Leyland (Royal Statistical Society)
• James Smith (Resolution Foundation)
• Geoff Tily (TUC)

ONS Secretariat

• Antonio Codiglione

Presenters

• David Beckett
• Stephen Burgess
• Michael Hardie
• Chris Payne
• Stefan Ubovic

ONS observers

• Grant Fitzner
• Chris Jenkins

Other observers

• Tara Murphy (His Majesty’s Treasury)
• Rishi Vaidya (Office for Statistics Regulation)

1. Introduction

1. Jonathan Haskel (the Chair) welcomed everyone to the Stakeholder Panel meeting.
2. The minutes from the last Stakeholder Panel meeting (5 September) were agreed by the Panel.
3. Stefan Ubovic gave an update on action point 46, explaining that his team still intend to draft and circulate a copy of the public-facing paper on CPI intensity to the Stakeholder Panel but that competing priorities had meant that it hadn’t been possible to draft the paper. The Chair requested action point 46 remained on the action point list and that an update was given at the next Panel.
4. David Beckett (DB) gave an update on action points 47 and 56, explaining that ONS had continued to engage with stakeholders on the various priorities identified for the Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR). DB further explained that he had circulated to the Stakeholder Panel a link to the questionnaire that was included in the PIPR bulletin alongside a link to the published summary of the feedback ONS received and their response to it.
5. DB told the Panel that no significant issues had been raised in the feedback and that most responses were supportive, although there were some user requests for additional data such as the publication of quartiles that ONS would look at in due course.
6. DB explained that ONS are planning to hold a PIPR webinar in the summer as a follow-up to the recent ADS webinar and also intend to publish a comprehensive update in early May that sets out how ONS have met the Office for Statistics Regulation’s (OSR’s) requirements. Following the above actions it was agreed that action points 47 and 56 could be marked as complete.
7. The Chair gave an update on action 51, explaining that he had met with Grant Fitzner to discuss how the Stakeholder Panel should reflect the greater focus on business prices development in the Economic Statistics Plan. The Chair explained that their intention was to expand the remit of the Stakeholder Panel to include business prices which would mean bringing in some specialist members. The Chair also explained that creating a sub-committee on business prices with a standing item at the full Stakeholder Panel might be sensible.
8. The Panel agreed with this approach and it was further agreed that the Chair and ONS would bring more detailed proposals to a future Panel. As such, action point 51 will be marked as complete.
9. David Beckett gave an update on action point 48, explaining that ONS couldn’t take the paper on the stock-based methodological approach in PIPR to today’s Panel because of annual leave commitments, but that it will be tabled at a future Panel.
10. Chris Payne (CP) gave an update on action point 53, explaining that ONS intend to record a social media video to promote the scanner data changes. CP also explained that ONS had a list of stakeholders that they would contact to publicise the changes. The Panel thought the ADS webinar had been successful and it was noted that action point 53 would be marked as complete.
11. Stephen Burgess noted that he would be giving an update on action point 54 relating to the conclusions of the review that is taking place following the error in CPI meaning this action point could be marked as complete.
12. David Beckett explained that work was continuing on action point 57 and that a summary of the requests that come into the CPI mailbox would be provided at a future Panel.
13. Chris Payne (CP) provided an update on action point 58, summarising the OSR recommendations and ONS’s progress against them. The Panel asked for a paper to be brought to a future Panel on contingency planning around the potential loss of scanner data, and it was noted that action point 58 could be marked as complete.
14. David Beckett (DB) gave an update on action point 59, reminding the Panel that he had shared a link to the blog on the house price imputation methodology change in HPI with them. DB then noted that the blog had been well received before explaining that there was a plan to embark on a more fundamental review of the UK HPI methodology in 2026. It was agreed that ONS would provide further details at a future Panel and that action point 59 could be marked as complete.
15. David Beckett gave an update on action point 60, explaining that a link to a draft of the new style of bulletin and a link to the detailed tables had been included in the paper tabled today on communicating ONS statistics on the website. As such it was agreed that action point 60 could be marked as complete.
16. The Chair noted that at the Joint Panel in September an action point was allocated to Mike Hardie following discussion on the paper tabled on the future of the Consumer Prices Landscape and communication of the 2030 RPI change. It was agreed that this action point will be recorded in the Stakeholder Panel’s action point register.
17. The Chair further noted that at the Joint Panel it was agreed that any changes implemented as a result of the discussion around what should be included in the detailed tables may lead to additional supplementary statistics being listed in the attachment to the Consumer Prices Landscape and that ONS may therefore wish to reflect on whether a wider user consultation on this topic would be worthwhile. As such, this action point will be recorded in the Stakeholder Panel’s action point register.

Action:

The Chair and David Beckett to bring more detailed proposals to the Panel to explain how the Stakeholder Panel’s remit and terms of reference could be updated to reflect the greater focus on business prices.

Action:

ONS to bring a paper to a future Panel to update on contingency planning around the potential loss of scanner data.

Action:

Mike Hardie to reflect on the feedback on communicating the role of CPIH before taking proposals back to the Stakeholder Panel and the Technical Panel.

Action:

ONS to reflect on whether a wider user consultation on the statistics published in the detailed tables should be undertaken.

2. Basket Quality Review

1. Chris Payne and Stefan Ubovic updated the Panel on progress on the high and medium priorities in the development plan, the internal Continuous Improvement Board and the ‘deep dive’ work. The Panel noted the information and requested that a paper is tabled at a future Panel which summarises what parts of the production process have been transitioned away from legacy systems, what parts of the production process remain on legacy systems and when ONS plans to transition away from these systems.
2. Stephen Burgess (SB) provided an update on the review following the error in CPI. SB detailed the range of actions that were being worked on which include enhancing communication and engagement with administrative data suppliers, strengthening quality assurance and verification activities, collaborating with HMT and the Bank of England to receive their policy impact assessments to act as an additional layer of assurance, updating the revisions and corrections policy, building more automated validation checks, and making greater use of artificial intelligence.
3. SB then provided an update on some of the key risks in the risk register. The Panel agreed that it was helpful that ONS had strong links at a working level with grocery data suppliers but emphasised the importance of ensuring that strong relationships were also built with the most senior staff and representatives of each company.
4. The Panel welcomed the work ONS had been carrying out to prevent cyber attacks while noting that this was more of an office-wide workstream than something specific to Prices Division.

Action:

ONS to table a paper at a future Panel summarising which parts of the production process have been transitioned away from legacy systems and which parts remain on legacy systems.

3. Household Costs Indices

1. Chris Payne (CP) updated the Panel on the development work for Household Costs Indices. CP explained that the annual round will soon commence and there are plans to carry out improvements to annual processes, including improvements to quality assurance processes. CP also explained that ONS were learning useful lessons from the Northern Ireland CPI project and that a more detailed update on HCIs, including on the revisions policy and future plans, is scheduled for the April Stakeholder Panel.

4. ADS update

1. Michael Hardie (MH) provided an update on scanner data, explaining that its implementation remains on track for March. MH also explained that ONS had published materials to aid public understanding including a GEKS-T explainer, a blog, a microdata update and an impact analysis.

5. Communicating ONS statistics on the website

1. David Beckett (DB) spoke to the paper, explaining that conversations had been taking place around possible ways by which the detailed tables published alongside the bulletin could be improved when communicating the figures for core CPI, and goods and services CPI. It had been thought useful that Panel members share their views on this topic to make sure that ONS are publishing what stakeholders require.
2. Panel members discussed a range of issues including the publication of contributions to CPI and CPIH over time, more detailed contributions being published, and different ways of publishing statistics relating to core, goods and services. In the interests of time it was agreed that DB should liaise with Panel members to better understand the specific asks in each of the above categories.
3. DB explained that a link to a draft of the new style of bulletin had been recirculated, so Panel members were welcome to share their views on what they thought of the new structure and style.
4. The Chair shared his views, explaining the importance of clearly communicating price levels and price changes. The Chair also explained the importance of clearly explaining the extent to which subcomponents of the index rose and how this is related to their weighted contribution to the all-item index. It was agreed that the Chair and DB would feed back the Chair’s views on the new bulletin to the publishing team at ONS.
5. DB explained the Publishing team in ONS would like views from the Panel on communicating changes in inflation using the ‘waterfall charts’ included in the tabled paper. The Panel agreed that they wouldn’t like waterfall charts to be adopted in the new bulletin but that the modified bar chart would be preferred because it has some of the advantages of the waterfall chart and does not have some of the negative aspects. The Panel also agreed that the move to order the changes in contribution by magnitude of change rather than by the COICOP division number helped more effectively communicate the statistics.
6. The Panel discussed the forthcoming removal of the facility to create a pdf of the bulletin and key tables on the website. There was unanimous and strong opposition to this proposal and it was agreed that the Chair would write a letter to the relevant person to object to this decision.

Action:

David Beckett to correspond with Panel members to better understand what is being requested in terms of changes to the published inflation tables before bringing back an update to a future Panel.

Action:

David Beckett to feed back the Panel’s views on the new style of bulletin and the waterfall charts to the ONS publishing team.

Action:

The Chair to write to relevant parties to object to the decision to remove the facility to create a pdf of the bulletin and key tables on the website.

6. Any other business and summary

1.  The Chair thanked the Panel members and presenters for their contributions.