Members present

• Dame Kate Barker (Chair)
• Eva Aizpura
• Professor Paul Allin
• Helen Boaden
• James Brooks
• Sarah Cumbers
• Mary Gregory
• Ed Humpherson
• Phyllis MacFarlane
• Sarah Moore

ONS attendees

• James Benford
• June Bowman
• Neil Townsend
• Francesca Gaunt
• Hellen Miller-Bakewell
• Lara Phelan
• Osama Rahman
• Darren Tierney
• Jen Woolford

Secretariat

• Kate Beeslee
• Oluchi Enunwa
• Jo-Anna Hagen

Apologies

• Professor Paul Boyle

1. Welcome, previous minutes and actions

1. The Chair welcomed the Committee to the meeting and formally thanked Guy for his contribution to the committee, noting that he had to step down following his recent appointment at Royal Statistical Society (RSS). The Committee discussed the circulation of papers ahead of publication.
2. Members noted that the minutes for the December meeting should be amended to reflect that Sarah Cumbers and Eva Aizpura had attended. The Secretariat would ensure the version on the Authority website was corrected promptly.
3. The Committee agreed that the blog titled “Renewed momentum?” by Ed Humpherson should be circulated to members.

Actions:

Secretariat to circulate Ed’s blog to members.

Secretariat to correct attendance in December minutes on the website to include Sarah Cumbers and Eva Aizpura. Business Planning and ONS Prioritisation Update

2. Research on Official Statistics and Personal Decisions

1. Helen Miller Bakewell introduced the Office for Statistics Regulation’s (OSR) research programme, noting that it aimed to deepen the understanding of how statistics can best serve the public good. Francesca Gaunt presented OSR’s research on how members of the public used official statistics when making personal decisions.
2. The research recommended improving the relevance of official statistics by increasing local granularity, enabling personalisation and data visualisation, and allowing meaningful comparisons that reflected lived experience. Wider recommendations centred on strengthening the trustworthiness of official statistics and official statistics producers through greater transparency, supporting third-party fact-checking, and building credibility and relatability.
3. The Committee heard that the research had informed several ongoing OSR workstreams, including a recently published study by a PhD student on trust in official statistics, work exploring the unique value of official statistics, and early exploratory work on potential evidence gaps.
4. Members discussed the update. The following points were raised in discussion:
   1. members recognised the importance of the research in demonstrating that statistics are used widely outside government decision making, including for everyday individual decisions, and that trust strongly influences usage;
   2. it was noted that public trust is especially significant in the current political environment, and that having a reliable, trusted set of official statistics is essential for public confidence;
   3. members asked how the recommendations would be translated into practice, highlighting that implementation is often the most challenging aspect of research programmes;
   4. the team described its approach to implementation engaging both internal colleagues and producers across the Government Statistical Service (GSS) including a recent workshop with the GSS Presentation Champions Network;
   5. OSR would consider which recommendations might inform future guidance, building on previous work such as guidance on dashboards for official statistics producers;
   6. members emphasised the importance of producers recognising their duty to create statistics that serve the public, noting that this message required continued reinforcement across the statistical system;
   7. members noted that, even where resources are limited, demonstrating openness to engagement and feedback can have symbolic and practical value in strengthening public confidence; and
   8. It was reported that producers had generally been enthusiastic about the recommendations, though trade‑offs were necessary to ensure proportionate implementation.
5. The Chair thanked the team for the presentation, noting that the research provided important insight into how official statistics can better serve the public and support trust in the statistical system.

3. Business Planning and ONS Prioritisation Update

1. Darren Tierney briefed the Committee on the current pressures within the Office for National Statistics (ONS), he explained that ONS had completed a short-term, in-year prioritisation exercise to decompress immediate pressures. More strategically, ONS was now developing a three year business plan – its first for several years which should allow the organisation to sequence activity sensibly and avoid repeated mid-year reallocation of resources.
2. ONS’s core mandatory priorities over the next three years were outlined as: delivery of the Census, continuation of the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS), investment in the Statistical Business Register, and the delivery of recovery plans for economic, population, and survey statistics.
3. Members discussed the update. The following points were raised in discussion:
   1. the Committee stressed the importance of addressing legacy systems and accumulated technical debt, observing that reliance on unfinished or parallel systems posed operational and financial risks;
   2. It was noted that some quality issues stemmed from managerial and oversight shortcomings. Members emphasised the need for stronger internal challenge and clearer accountability for major programmes;
   3. members welcomed signs of cultural improvement within ONS, including increased openness, stronger internal scrutiny, and more robust discussions before matters reached the Authority Board;
   4. members highlighted that user engagement should not focus solely on government users. Wider engagement with local authorities, academics, civil society organisations, smaller businesses, and the general public remained essential;
   5. the Committee discussed the challenge of balancing strategic ambition with deliverability. Members supported ambition but stressed that restoring the quality of core statistics must remain the priority;
   6. it was suggested that strengthening specialist capability particularly in programme management, digital delivery, and data engineering would support resilience and reduce the likelihood of recurrence of past issues;
   7. members supported the development of interim Assembly style engagement events to maintain visibility, transparency, and public confidence between full Assembly cycles;
   8. the Committee acknowledged that the incoming National Statistician would likely wish to shape elements of the longer term strategy. However, members welcomed ONS’s intention to continue consulting widely during the transition period; and
   9. Members noted the value of recent workshops, including an RSS/OSR roundtable, and welcomed plans for wider engagement with a broader user ecosystem throughout. A summary of findings would be shared with the New Statistician.
4. Members were updated on plans for interim engagement activity relating to the Statistics Assembly.

Action:

Sarah Moore to share summary of user engagement (RSS/OSR workshop and wider stakeholder conversations) with the incoming National Statistician.

4. Census Update – Topic Consultation

1. Jennet Woolford introduced the update on the Census 2031 Topic Consultation. She noted that the census process must be robust, inclusive, and supported by extensive engagement with local authorities, population groups, delivery partners and wider users. Jennet highlighted the importance of ensuring that everyone can complete the questionnaire and that the data collected meets strong user need.
2. The Committee heard that the Census Strategy had been published the previous day, and that an update on the topic consultation would be published in the spring, followed by detailed reports later this year. Members noted the value of recent engagement activity, including roundtables held with the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) and ongoing ONS/Population Census and Social Statistics (PCSS) user engagement plans.
3. Members discussed the update. The following points were raised in discussion:
   1. members asked whether there were identifiable gaps in the user community and how ONS was maintaining dialogue throughout the sequencing and decision making process;
   2. members welcomed the transparency of the published criteria used to assess consultation responses, noting the importance of balancing user need with considerations such as respondent burden;
   3. the Committee emphasised the importance of maintaining clear communication about next steps to support user understanding of how topics will be assessed and decisions taken;
   4. Members discussed the need to consider broader political and societal risks, international challenges to census operations and agreed that the landscape had become more fragile;
   5. the Committee discussed the work of the Board’s Population Statistics System subgroup, which includes Non Executive Directors, external experts, and representatives from the Government Digital Service. Members welcomed the assurance this provided;
   6. members highlighted the importance of user engagement as a mechanism for discovering unexpected insights, noting that such “unknown unknowns” are often the most valuable outcomes of consultation; and
   7. the Committee noted that discussions on some future census design decisions may need to await the appointment of the new National Statistician.
4. The Chair thanked Jennet and colleagues for the update and looked forward to hearing more about the findings from user engagement at a future meeting.

5. Economics Statistics Plan – User Engagement

1. James Benford introduced the update on user engagement relating to the Economic Statistics Plan (ESP). He summarised progress on key elements of the plan, including the restoration of Labour Force Survey (LFS) sample sizes, progress towards the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS), developments in scanner data, and changes to migration statistics.
2. Members heard that ONS had reinforced traditional engagement channels, including expert groups for prices, national accounts, migration and the labour market, and had established a close steering group with HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), and the Cabinet Office and was also exploring ways to engage more widely through thematic sessions, roundtables, and structured briefings.
3. Members discussed the update. The following points were raised in discussion:
   1. members encouraged ONS to continue with the steps it was taking to ensure a broad scope of perspectives in its strategic discussions;
   2. the need to balance the views of major economic institutions with those of other users, noting that the current structure with a steering group of major economic institutions was important for restoring trust but should not be the sole basis for engagement;
   3. members asked how ONS would maintain a wider dialogue throughout the prioritisation process, including how quarterly updates could be used to support transparency and invite feedback;
   4. The ONS plans to publish a quarterly progress report, with the next update due in mid‑April, and use this to update on priorities. The prioritisation process would be continuous and careful sequencing was needed to protect delivery confidence. A ‘waiting room’ would be used to be clear on the priorities not currently been taken forward;
   5. members discussed the importance of clarity around methodological changes and the ONS discussed the example of scanner data and how differences between old and new approaches were being communicated;
   6. members welcomed the increased transparency and openness in ONS’s engagement, noting a positive change in tone and responsiveness over the past six months; and
   7. to improve accessibility, members suggested using RAG ratings, dashboards, and visual summaries in quarterly updates, rather than relying on dense narrative reports.
4. The Committee showed appreciation for the increased transparency and ongoing improvements to user engagement

6. Any other business

1. The Committee considered future horizon‑scanning and agreed to invite a range of external speakers to help inform longer‑term thinking about user needs and developments affecting the statistical system. Members highlighted the value of hearing from experts whose work focuses on unmet statistical needs, poverty data gaps, and the role of statistics within wider social and political change. Potential contributors included academic specialists, representatives from the voluntary sector, and those working on improving access to and use of public data.
2. Members agreed to approach suggested speakers and explore availability for upcoming meetings, ensuring clarity that these sessions are intended to deepen understanding of user needs rather than to expand ONS’s immediate workload.
3. The Committee agreed that potential speakers should be approached by offering all upcoming meeting dates and determining availability. The Chair thanked members for their contributions and brought the meeting to a close.
4. The next meeting was due to take place via teams on 3 June 2026.

Action:

Secretariat to approach proposed speakers and offer all dates to them.