Executive Summary
The Implementation Plan summarised information on a wide range of 205 initiatives, categorised under eight Inclusive Data Principles, across government, civil society and academia expected to contribute to greater inclusivity of UK data and evidence.
Of the 205 initiatives almost 90% are now underway or already completed, while about 10% are delayed, discontinued or information about their progress was unavailable at the time of publication. Overall, this suggests strong progress has been made over the past year, although it’s equally important to identify where progress has been more challenging and why this is, so that we can identify how barriers to success could be overcome.
Figure 1: Status of Inclusive Data Taskforce (IDTF) Implementation Plan activities (Red, Amber, Green, Completed)
Source: Inclusive Data Taskforce activities
The eight Inclusive Data Principles outlined by the Taskforce are:
Inclusive Data Principle 1 – Trust
Create an environment of trust and trustworthiness which allows and encourages everyone to count and be counted in UK data and evidence.
Inclusive Data Principle 2 – Systemic Working
Take a whole system approach, working in partnership with others to improve the inclusiveness of UK data and evidence.
Inclusive Data Principle 3 – Coverage
Ensure that all groups are robustly captured across key areas of life in UK data and review practices regularly.
Inclusive Data Principle 4 – Disaggregation
Improve the UK data infrastructure to enable robust and reliable disaggregation and intersectional analysis across the full range of relevant groups and populations, and at differing levels of geography.
Inclusive Data Principle 5 – Concepts
Ensure appropriateness and clarity over the concepts being measured across all data collected.
Inclusive Data Principle 6 – Methods
Broaden the range of methods that are routinely used and create new approaches to understanding experiences across the population of the UK.
Inclusive Data Principle 7 – Harmonisation
Harmonised standards for relevant groups and populations should be reviewed at least every five years and updated and expanded where necessary, in line with changing social norms and respondent and user needs.
Inclusive Data Principle 8 – Accessibility
Ensure UK data and evidence are equally accessible to all, while protecting the identity and confidentiality of those sharing their data.
Although all 205 initiatives described in the baseline implementation plan can make an important collective contribution to improving inclusivity across the UK statistical system, there are specific, often cross-cutting initiatives with the potential to contribute more significantly and sustainably to the step change in inclusivity envisaged by the Inclusive Data Taskforce. These include:
- Harmonisation of standards and guidance for data collection in terms of the appropriateness and clarity of the concepts being measured, focusing on personal and protected characteristics
- Adoption of strategies and approaches to improve the coverage of surveys and administrative data sources, and making increased use of the latter, to reach currently under-represented groups of the population
- Transformation of the system for producing statistics about the population, with the recommendation to be made by the National Statistician on the future of the England and Wales Census following extensive public consultation in 2023
- Development of the Integrated Data Service which will enable improved intersectional analysis through data linkage across Government
The Plan covers the period 2022 to 2023 through to 2024 to 2025. In March 2025 we will evaluate the impact that has been made and where further work is needed to continue improving inclusivity of UK data and evidence.
- 24 initiatives in the baseline implementation plan focused specifically on areas relevant to creating an environment of trust and trustworthiness. Of these, most (20) were either completed or underway and on schedule just over a year later in March 2023.
- A number of new initiatives have been launched to improve engagement with different population groups with the aim of enhancing trust and trustworthiness in statistics, in order to encourage provision of data. For example, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has created the ONS Assembly to support regular dialogue on delivering inclusive data with charities and bodies representing the interests of under-represented groups of the population.
- A number of activities to reduce practical barriers to participation in surveys have been completed or are underway by the ONS such as the development of ONS respondent materials, including in relation to accessibility, as well as by other departments, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The ONS’s work on the development of a ‘social contract’ with research participants has evolved into a larger programme of work than originally planned for 2022, to recognise that different population groups may require specific types of information to inspire trust. This work is being progressed with external partners and is continuing into 2023 to 2024.
- 33 initiatives in the baseline implementation plan focused specifically on areas relevant to working in partnership across the UK statistical system, ensuring a whole system approach. Of these, most (31) were either completed or underway and on schedule just over a year later in March 2023.
- A new, independent National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Advisory Committee has already met four times to provide transparent advice and monitoring of progress. Initiatives have been made in several departments including the Cabinet Office and the Department for Education to embed inclusivity throughout their organisations, with more work to be done by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to continue to encourage embedding of inclusivity across the UK statistical system. There has been a lot of activity on sharing knowledge, good practice and innovation across the UK and internationally such as the Standards for ethnicity data published by the Cabinet Office Equality Hub. It will be key for this to continue to ensure that improvements to data and evidence are sustainable.
- Across UK statistical system collaboration has long existed, but a focus on shared goals to improve data inclusivity has been created. For example, the review of harmonised standards and guidance was agreed between the ONS, the Cabinet Office’s Equality Hub and the three devolved administrations, and a Task and Finish group has been created to produce a ‘social contract’ for research participants with membership from the devolved administrations as well as external experts. The Inter Administration now has a workstream on Inclusivity as part of its Work Programme. A new Government Statistical Service (GSS) Sub-committee on Inclusive Data was launched in May 2023 that will further strengthen this focus.
- In order to enable wider learning, departments including the Cabinet Office, Department for Education and the ONS have developed and published guidance sharing learning on how to assess and improve the inclusivity and quality of data. The Scottish Government also ran a series of workshops to showcase good practice and share learning.
- 33 of the 41 initiatives in the baseline implementation plan that focused on ensuring that all groups are robustly captured were either completed, or underway and on schedule, at the end of March 2023.
- Some good progress has been made in what is a key area, involving finding solutions to long-standing challenges on gaps in data for some population groups. It is expected that more will be achieved in this area as feasibility and other strategic work progresses, including the ONS studies on ways to improve survey coverage, improving the collection of data on personal characteristics in administrative data for example by the Home Office, and developing ways to increase use of administrative data generally.
- The ONS has introduced an Adaptive Survey Design for the Transformed Labour Force Survey as a strategy for addressing under representation and will analyse these results on an ongoing basis to determine action required to address any issues with under-representation. The ONS’s progress continues on developing the National Statistician’s recommendation on the future of the census and the associated future design of population statistics, which has inclusivity at its heart. The recommendation will follow a public consultation in summer 2023.
- 25 initiatives in the baseline implementation plan focused specifically on areas relevant to enabling disaggregation and intersectional analysis. All were either completed or underway and on schedule just over a year later in March 2023.
- There has been considerable progress across the Government Statistical System (GSS) to develop more detailed, granular data to enable increased intersectional analysis. The level of detail collected has been increased, for example the Department for Education’s mandatory collection of Education, Health and Care Plan at the level of the child, and increased sample sizes by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Work and Pensions for the Participation Survey and Family Resources Survey.
- The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published its Subnational Statistics Work Plan in response to the GSS Subnational Data Strategy and has made significant progress in setting up ONS Local, a local data analytical service with the ambition to cover all four nations of the UK.
- A continued focus on enabling (through data sharing) and conducting more intersectional analysis will be important in 2023 to 2024. The continuing development of the Integrated Data Service (IDS) will be key to this. The IDS, currently in a public beta phase, will provide a statistical methods library for accredited users as well as data linkage and matching services, expected to be available later in 2023. The ONS and the Cabinet Office have jointly produced a prototype Equality Data Asset linking census and business ownership data with further development planned for 2023 to 2024.
- 28 initiatives in the baseline implementation plan focused specifically on areas relevant to ensuring appropriateness and clarity of concepts. Of these, most (26) were either completed or underway and on schedule just over a year later in March 2023.
- Significant progress has been made in moving forward on improvement in the appropriateness and clarity of the concepts being measured. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Plan in February 2022, setting out the plans and timescale for reviewing and updating current GSS standards and guidance for collection of data, and during 2022/3 updated the guidance for some topics. (See Inclusive Data Principle 7 for further information).
- The ONS also introduced a respondent-centric approach to the end-to end design of its surveys, with the aim of making the survey experience relatable, and published a Data Dictionary providing definitions, variables and classifications used in the England and Wales Census 2021.
- A variety of statistical producers across the GSS have reviewed and updated guidance for their data collection including the Cabinet Office, Scottish Government, Northern Ireland Executive Office, Department for Transport, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office. The work to continue delivering the GSS Harmonisation Plan will be key in 2023 to 2024.
- 19 initiatives in the baseline implementation plan focused specifically on areas relevant to broadening the range of methods used and developing new approaches. Of these, most (15) were either completed or underway and on schedule just over a year later in March 2023.
- The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has implemented a variety of work programmes including a pioneering series of published qualitative research studies with statistically under-represented communities on the lived experiences of disabled people’s take-up of public services, gypsies and travellers, and children with special educational and disability needs. The ONS has also continued to investigate improved methods for data linkage including innovative approaches such as machine learning, with the aim of understanding and reducing linkage bias, and examining strategies for imputation in the context of linked administrative data.
- The ONS Data Science Campus has collaborated internationally to accelerate responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI), data science and big data to modernise official statistics at regional, national and global levels. Other initiatives across the Government Statistical Service (GSS) include Department for Education’s current and planned cohort studies which will improve longitudinal survey data on children and young people to better understand the relationship between development, attainment, disadvantage and a range of personal and household characteristics. Use of sophisticated analytical methods will continue to be key to enabling improved intersectional analysis.
- 12 initiatives in the Implementation Plan focused specifically on areas relevant to ensuring harmonised standards are regularly reviewed and updated. Of these, most (nine) were either completed or underway and on schedule just over a year later in March 2023.
- This Inclusive Data Principle has synergy with Inclusive Data Principle 5. Strong collaboration has continued across the Government Statistical Service (GSS). As described in Principle 5, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the GSS Harmonisation Plan in February 2022 which set out the plans and timescale for reviewing and updating current GSS standards and guidance for collection of data; and strengthened the governance of this work across the GSS. An update was published in December 2022, with good progress being made, and the Plan is on track.
- During 2022 to 2023, the ONS has updated the ethnicity harmonised standard, the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) harmonised standard, the national identity harmonised standard and the religion harmonised standard aimed to improve alignment with Census 2021 in England and Wales. The ONS has also published the Coronavirus (COVID-19) harmonised guidance and an update on their sex harmonisation guidance providing timelines for the work.
- The ONS is actively involved internationally on harmonisation, particularly in the context of designing the future population statistics system and the future of the census.
- The ONS has also published an across-GSS Coherence Work Plan update, a plan for improving subnational statistics and is rolling out a new local analytical advisory service (ONS Local), with the ambition of covering all four nations, as mentioned under Principle 4.
- Of the 23 commitments included in the baseline implementation plan aimed at improving the accessibility of data and evidence, most (21) were either complete or underway and on track by the end of March 2023.
- Good progress has been made, with key initiatives continuing into 2023 to 2024. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has started to introduce new ways to make data more accessible including publication of survey results in Ukrainian for the Ukraine Humanitarian Response Insights survey, and videos to accompany the release of qualitative research on currently under-represented groups of the population.
- A number of initiatives to improve access to administrative data have been made including by releasing new or expanded datasets including those by the Home Office, Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, the Department for Education and the Office for Students.
- New dashboards or data viewers have been released by the ONS in terms of the Census 2021 ‘Create a Custom Dataset’ and by others including Welsh Government, Department for Education, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. The way forward for development of a user portal for improved data access to equalities data has been identified in the context of the development of the Integrated Data Service.
- There has been progress in moving data to HTML format by a number of departments including the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The Government Analysis Function has produced new e-learning on best practice in publishing data visualisations. The ONS has undertaken significant user engagement in the context of the work to prepare for the National Statistician’s recommendation on transforming statistics about the population, and further plans for this are in place in 2023 to 2024.