National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Advisory Committee minutes: 9 December 2025

Attendees

The Chair welcomed members, thanked them for previous feedback, and provided updates:
- feedback had been received and communicated to all on the Committee’s comments on Topic Consultation evaluation criteria, some changes made and a number of points will be incorporated into training and supporting documents,
- consideration of the Committee’s feedback on the Ethnicity Harmonisation Consultation remains ongoing. Next steps include the Ethnicity Harmonisation team providing a response to the Committee’s feedback and how these have been addressed in the final approach.
An additional agenda item has been added on communications in relation to the Harmonisation Team’s work on sex and gender identity.
The Committee agreed the meeting could be recorded solely for drafting minutes, and the October minutes were approved.

Office for Equality and Opportunity, Cabinet Office (OEO) depends on transparent methods and harmonised standards across the system. Across the protected characteristics of the Equality Act, data coverage is stronger for age/sex and weaker for ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation and gender reassignment.
Active workstreams for the OEO include: equality legislation (including gender pay gap actions), a planned bill on ethnicity/disability pay gaps, evidence on conversion practices in relation to sexual orientation, improved disability lived‑experience data, and diversity in growth employment sectors. OEO is also preparing a data quality plan.
Paul will share slides and the equalities audit link with NSIDAC members.

Following discussion of the evaluation report. the Committee agreed to focus initially on progress in relation to Inclusive Data Principles 1 and 6, focusing respectively on creating an environment of trust and trustworthiness allowing everyone to count and be counted in UK data and evidence; and broadening the range of methods used and creating new approaches to understanding experiences across the UK population.
Issues to revisit included: risks to trust and trustworthiness in relation to possible re‑identification of data when combining datasets; need for plain‑English communications showing public benefits of data collection; and proportionality in asking very small groups to provide data.

Interim GSS guidance is required to help users consider their measurement approach following the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. Emma Rourke, Acting National Statistician, asked that it was discussed with NSIDAC in advance of publication, in order to receive advice on how best to communicate inclusively with Harmonisation stakeholders. Extracts from interim draft guidance were discussed in relation to census questions used in England and Wales in 2021, in Scotland in 2022, and in relation to biological sex or sex at birth which is not addressed by either of these. Statisticians must define user need and align wording/guidance accordingly; respondent testing in 2026 will inform the final standard.
Committee members expressed concerns regarding the clarity and practical application of the interim guidance and asked that these concerns were taken on board.

Two live public consultations were discussed: Census topics (England and Wales) and Ethnicity harmonisation (UK); with both planning extensive engagement pre‑ and post‑closure. Alice Toms (ONS) gave a presentation on both.
Committee advice: prioritise inclusivity in collection and outputs (enabling measurement of small populations, intersectional analysis, local granularity); balance time‑series continuity with fitness‑for‑purpose of ethnic group categories; manage respondent burden; consider international alignment for qualifications data.
Agreed high‑level advisory response from the Committee would be drafted covering both consultations and sent to the National Statistician, Wendy Sigle and Richard Laux agreed to take the lead in drafting. Members were also invited to submit personal responses to the consultation with topic‑specific inputs.

Census population segmentation and 2027 test criteria: defer to a future agenda.
Next meeting: 31 March 2026; calendar invites requested (later 2026 dates subject to booking limits and will be sent as far ahead as possible).

March 2026 meeting focus confirmed: IDP 1 (creating and environment of trust/ trustworthiness) and IDP 6 (broadening the range of methods used).
Combined advisory response: single, high‑level advisory letter covering Census 2031 topics and Ethnicity harmonisation, to be sent to the National Statistician, with an online sign‑off meeting in late Jan/early Feb 2026.
Next meeting date confirmed: 31 March 2026; Secretariat to issue calendar invites.
Future agenda item: Population segmentation and 2027 test criteria to be scheduled for a later meeting.

Please note: These minutes were produced with the assistance of AI.