Next Meeting: Thursday 5 September 2024, Remote Meeting

Members present

• Professor David Hand (Chair)
• Eva Aizpurua
• Professor Paul Allin
• Dame Kate Barker
• Helen Boaden
• Professor Paul Boyle
• James Brooks
• Dr Sarah Cumbers
• Professor Sir Ian Diamond
• Edward Humpherson
• Phyllis MacFarlane
• Guy Nason

Additional attendees

• Melanie Crew (for item 2)
• Nicola Fulton (for item 3)
• Emily Holzhausen OBE (for item 2)
• Neil Townsend (for Sarah Moore)

Secretariat

• Kerri Gourley
• Tom Marsh

Apologies

• Sarah Moore

1. Minutes and matters arising

1. Members were welcomed to the meeting. Apologies were received from Sarah Moore. The minutes of the previous meeting were approved and all actions were reviewed.

2. Discussion with User (Emily Holzhausen OBE) [NSEUAC(24)05]

1. Emily Holzhausen OBE, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK joined the meeting to reflect on her perspective as a user of statistics. The following key points were made:
   1. official statistics were extremely important to Carers UK to support improvements in visibility, rights, and entitlements for carers;
   2. official statistics had helped improve public understanding of the proportion of male carers, which had previously been seen as a woman’s role;
   3. the 2011 Census had been transformational for Carers UK as it enabled local understanding of carers’ requirements and experience, which informed local strategies;
   4. given the importance of census data to Carers UK, the organisation would campaign to maintain the Census, or the equivalent insights from other sources;
   5. ONS was committed to producing reliable and accurate data and if an alternative to a Census was proposed it would provide at least equivalent data and insights;
   6. members discussed the various types of caring, including those who do not have traditional networks or are unpaid, and ONS agreed to consider whether the cost of unpaid care could be included in the National Accounts;
   7. having harmonised data would be useful as there has been analysis on England and Wales data however UK wide analysis had been more difficult; and
   8. ONS was committed to a UK wide consistent definition of data.

Action:

Grant Fitzner to consider whether the cost of unpaid care could be included in the National Accounts.

Action:

Ruth Studley to consult with Carers UK to ensure FPMS will sufficiently meet Carers UK’s needs.

3. Outcome of the Independent Review of the UKSA [NSEUAC(24)06]

1. Neil Townsend and Nicola Fulton introduced a paper on the Outcome of the Independent Review of the UKSA, which proposed the design of the UK Statistics Authority Statistical Assembly later in the year. The Assembly would have representatives from all sectors, with a focus on the Government Statistical System as a whole.
2. Members discussed the timing of the event for later in the year and it was noted that this would be difficult to organise due to short notice. However, there was an expectation to respond quickly to the Review. Members also discussed appointing a representative from the National Statistician’s Expert User Advisor Committee (NSEUAC) to be part of the Assembly Delivery Group.
3. Members welcomed the update and noted that NSEUAC would play a significant role after the assembly, to triage issues to the UK Statistics Authority Board. It was also agreed that members would email the Chair if they wanted to be a representative at the Assembly Delivery Group.

4. Code of Practice Refresh [NSEUAC(24)07]

1. Ed Humpherson introduced a paper on the Code of Practice Refresh highlighting the spirit of continuous improvement when refreshing the code. Three conclusions were made, firstly that a refresh of the code was needed and that National Statistics should be renamed as Accredited Official Statistics. Secondly, the programme of voluntary adoption would be extended and thirdly there was a need for the code to align more closely with guidance documents produced by the Office for Statistics Regulation or the Government Statistical Service.
2. Members discussed the importance of the code and making it more visible to increase the reach.
3. Members welcomed the paper and noted that they would like to see more outreach to commercial organisations.

5. Any other business

1. The next meeting was due to take place via MS Teams in September 2024.