Members:

• Dame Julia Cleverdon (Chair)
• Professor Anthony Heath (University of Oxford)
• Si Chun Lam (West Midlands Combined Authority)
• Dr Evelyn Collins (formerly of Equality Commission for Northern Ireland; Honorary Professor at Queens University)
• Professor Uzo Iwobi (Race Council Cymru)
• Professor Tom Shakespeare (The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM))
• Lela Kogbara (Place Matters)

Experts:

• Catrin Awoyemi (Welsh Government)
• Eilidh McLaughlin (Scottish Government)
• Shamim Rahman (Department of Health and Social Care)
• Isabella Schmidt (UN Women)

Office for National Statistics (ONS):

• Ruth Studley
• Fiona Dawe
• Dawn Snape
• Amie Dede-Benefor
• Ryan Hill
• Abygail Tustin
• Jessica Kempinski
• Cath Hollyhead
• Neil Bannister
• Jo Evans
• Tris Browne

Additional attendees:

• Ed Humpherson (Office for Statistics Regulation, OSR)
• Penny Babb (OSR)

Apologies:

• Professor Shannon Vallor (University of Edinburgh)
• Nitesh Prakash (Bain & Company)
• Richard Laux (Cabinet Office)
• Josephine Foubert (ONS)
• Louise Fryer (ONS)
• Caroline Smith (ONS)

1. Welcome and introductions

1. Dame Julia Cleverdon welcomed all to the meeting. With regret she announced her resignation as Chair of the Committee from the end of March 2025. Members expressed their appreciation of Dame Julia’s work as Chair since the Committee was established and their hope that she may stay involved with its work in some capacity going forward.
2. No conflicts of interest were declared by the Chair or Committee members.

2. For information: Office for National Statistics (ONS) update – Ruth Studley 

1. Ruth Studley acknowledged Dame Julia Cleverdon’s resignation and thanked her for her commitment and passion as Chair.
2. Ruth provided an update on the independent review of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) by Professor Denise Lievesley. The Lievesley Review emphasised the need to formalise the process for advisory groups that support the National Statistician. This is in progress and members will be given additional information at a future date.
3. In further response to the Lievesley Review the UK Statistics Assembly was held by the ONS and the Royal Statistical Society. The Assembly provided a unique opportunity for stakeholders from central, local and devolved governments, business and industry, academia, civil society and charities to discuss and advise on the statistical and data priorities for the UK. A number of points were raised on inclusion and equality in UK statistics.
4. Ruth noted that work on the Future Population Migration Statistics (FPMS) recommendation was ongoing, and ONS also continues to engage with government on this.

3. For discussion: Update to the Code of Practice, review and consultation – Ed Humpherson

1. Ed Humpherson, Head of the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), introduced the Code of Practice for Statistics as a tool to provide high-level standards and values for producing statistics. The OSR are currently consulting on changing the Code to make sure it remains relevant. Ed laid out the 3 core concepts of the code: Trustworthiness, Quality and Value. He invited feedback from members on how the code could better address inclusivity.
2. In the discussion, members emphasised the need for direct references to inclusivity within the Code, which were currently absent. There was a concern that if a requirement for inclusivity was not explicit, data producers could meet the code without due regard to inclusivity. Members suggested that a recognition of how different characteristics interact to compound disadvantage could also be included.

4. For discussion: Characteristics update, General Health – Neil Bannister

1. Neil Bannister, who leads the FPMS Characteristics’ teams in ONS, presented on the early stages of work looking at how administrative sources can be used to provide data on general health as part of the FPMS programme. The census currently asks the question ‘How is your health in general?’ and allows for a self-reported answer. The use of administrative sources will, by necessity, focus on a medical-based approach.
2. The team have begun to consult with users on how this data is currently used and are exploring what data sources could fulfil these needs. Neil sought feedback from the Committee on this work in terms of inclusivity and the usefulness of the general health measure.
3. In the discussion members asserted the importance of maintaining a self-reported measure of health, alongside a medical approach, citing that the datasets have differing uses. They noted that there was a risk of not capturing those who do not interact with services and reducing inclusivity if people’s perceptions are not captured.

5. For information: UK-wide and Government Statistical Service (GSS) Coherence – Tris Browne

1. Tris Browne leads the Coherence teams at ONS. He presented on the importance of statistical coherence, to bring together outputs on the same topic from multiple producers across the four UK nations. Coherence can help to reduce the misinterpretation of data and assist policy makers.
2. His team aims to improve the comparability of statistics through collaboration, communication and dissemination across UK countries and with users of statistics. They provide various services to support these aims and their current topics of focus are: FPMS coherence, income and earning coherence and housing, planning, homelessness and rough sleeping coherence.
3. The committee welcomed this opportunity to learn more about the GSS approach to statistical coherence between the UK Devolved Governments. During the discussion, members raised questions concerning inclusivity and harmonisation across the four UK nations. There was particular interest in how this relates to education statistics. Also highlighted was the potential impact of English devolution on coherence of statistics.

6. Review of minutes and key actions – Dame Julia Cleverdon

1. The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed via email. The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 26^th February 2025.