Next meeting: 29 May 2025, London Boardroom

Members present

• Sir Robert Chote (Chair)
• Dr Jacob Abboud
• Peter Barron
• Professor Sir Ian Diamond
• Emma Rourke
• Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter
• Professor Mairi Spowage
• Dr Sarah Walsh
• Penny Young

Other attendees

• June Bowman
• Joe Moore (for item 8)
• Sarah Moore
• Tom Taylor
• Ross Tivey (for item 8)

Secretariat

• Sally Jones

Apologies

• Professor Dame Carol Propper

1. Apologies

1. Apologies were noted from Professor Dame Carol Propper.

2. Declarations of Interest

1. There were no new declarations of interest.

3. Minutes and matters arising from previous meetings

1. The minutes of the previous meeting held on 27 March 2025 were approved.

4. Report from the Authority Chair [SA(25)20]

1. Non-Executive Directors had met before the meeting. They had discussed topics including the ongoing review by Sir Robert Devereux and the forthcoming inquiry of the Authority by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC). NEDs had agreed that this year’s annual review of Board effectiveness would be externally led and undertaken over the summer.
2. The Chair reported on his recent activities since the Board last met. On 11 April Sir Robert and Ed Humpherson had met Professor Alice Sullivan to discuss the findings of her recently published review on data, statistics and research on sex and gender. The Board agreed that Professor Sullivan would be invited to a future meeting to discuss the high-level recommendations. It was noted that the ONS harmonisation team, which operated on behalf of the Government Statistical Service (GSS) continuing to undertake work in this area. This included a series of roadshows, which were ongoing, the format of which had been changed to include a mechanism for participants to provide written feedback.

5. Report from the Chief Executive [SA(25)21]

1. Sir Ian provided the Board with an overview of activity and issues since the last meeting, highlighting the following:
   1. the final Spending Review 2025 return had been submitted to HM Treasury (HMT). Tom Taylor and the finance team would continue discussions with HMT to reach an agreed settlement in June;
   2. following agreement by the Board at the March meeting on the way forward for the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) HMT had confirmed funding for 2025/26. ONS had subsequently published its plans for the TLFS on 10 April;
   3. the Ambitious Radical Inclusive Economic Statistics Programme closed as planned on 31 March;
   4. the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) team would begin using an Artificial Intelligence test classification tool to support coding from May with the aim of improving efficiency;
   5. in line with the recommendation from the Lievesley Review regarding the appointment process for the National Statistician’s advisory groups, Professor Jonathan Haskel had been appointed as the new Chair of the National Statistician’s Advisory Panel on Consumer Price Statistics; and Dr Madeleine Sumption as Chair of the Advisory Panel on Migration Statistics;
   6. Megan Cooper had taken on the role of Director for the Integrated Data Programme. The latest Integrated Data Service (IDS) business case had been submitted to HMT and a Treasury Approval Process had been held;
   7. the Research Accreditation Panel had accredited ONS’s Data Access Platform as a secure processor of data under the Digital Economy Act;
   8. the draft Future of Population and Migration Statistics Recommendation had been discussed with Minister Georgia Gould MP, Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office. Further stakeholder engagement was planned alongside plans to publish the recommendation following agreement by the Board at the previous meeting; and
   9. the ONS Executive Committee had considered the additional management information that would be provided to the Board in May on the early warning system in place to ensure that data quality risks and issues were quickly identified.
2. Members discussed the update and agreed bi-monthly reporting to the Board for TLFS/LFS as there was a clear plan in place. With regard to statistical quality It was noted that improved quality assurance processes had resulted in the identification of issues ahead of publication and methodological changes were part of ONS’s approach to continuous improvement.
3. The Board heard about the ongoing engagement by ONS with the Ministry of Justice to address the long-standing issue of delays to coronial data, with a specific focus associated with drug related deaths. Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter had met the ONS team for mortality statistics and welcomed the work by ONS to publish deaths by week of occurrence rather than registration.

6. Communications Update 

1. Peter Barron and Sarah Moore updated the Board on the proposed approach to the communications update to the Board going forward.
2. It was acknowledged that media coverage for ONS had been extremely challenging of late, mainly relating to economic statistics, including the recent Producer Price Index which had been paused on 21 March due to a legacy issue identified with the chain linking methods used to calculate these indices; and OSR’s Systemic Review of ONS Economic Statistics. It was noted that recent successful publications included the announcement on the way forward for the TLFS on 10 April and the publication of the ONS Strategic Business Plan setting out the key priorities for the ONS. Engagement was ongoing with stakeholders including journalists and other users as well as the Royal Statistical Society.
3. Board members welcomed the update and noted that it would be useful to have a media dashboard that would measure sentiment and reach. The Board agreed that a Communications update would be a standing item to every meeting. A substantive paper setting out the organisation’s communications strategy would be scheduled for the June Board meeting.

7. Report from the Director General for Regulation [SA(25)22] 

1. Ed Humpherson provided an update on regulation activity highlighting the publication of OSR’s Systemic Review of ONS Economic Statistics on 7 April. The report had initially asked for a response within four weeks but this had been extended given the ongoing review by Sir Robert Devereux.
2. OSR had published a letter to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) concluding that DWP’s presentation of Universal Credit provided a very misleading picture to the public. DWP subsequently corrected the press release referred to in the letter.

8. Draft Authority Strategy [SA(25)23] 

1. Joe Moore and Ross Tivey introduced a paper which provided an update on the development of the next Authority strategy. Since the last discussion in November the Policy Unit had carried out an extensive programme of internal and external engagement.
2. The Board heard the proposal for the refreshed strategy to be called Statistics for the Public Good 2030, with a focus on the whole statistical system. The document would clearly explain the component parts of the statistics system, their roles, capabilities and contribution to delivering statistics for the public good and set the context and overall ambition for the system. It would also clearly explain the relationship between the strategy and other key documents that underpin it such as the ONS and OSR business plans and the GSS Vision.
3. Board members discussed the approach to the strategy refresh. The following points were made in discussion:
   1. the link to the framework for the Code of Practice for Statistics based on its three pillars: Trustworthiness, Quality and Value (TQV), which feedback had shown resonates with colleagues across the statistics system. It was noted that trust was not a central objective of the Authority but rather a consequence of trustworthy work delivered across the statistics system;
   2. the proposal to replace the existing principles (Radical, Ambitious, Inclusive and Sustainable) with ‘commitments’, the inclusion of strategic priorities and the link with TQV in relation to the outputs the system produces were discussed fully. There was some support for the inclusion of ‘commitments’ and priorities, sitting alongside TQV;
   3. the need for the refreshed strategy to establish and clarify the role of the Authority and the mechanism by which the Authority delivers, providing leadership for the whole statistics system with wording that resonates with statistical producers; and
   4. the role of the strategy in providing visible leadership and support across the Government Statistical Service; and supporting the strengthening of capability amongst statisticians. There was potential for alignment with the ongoing work by the Royal Statistical Society and GSS on the future statistician.
4. The Board noted thanks for the work by the Policy Unit that had been undertaken in reaching this point with support for simplifying the approach. It was agreed that further work would be undertaken by a smaller group of members with the Policy Unit to progress including consideration of communications. Timing for publication of the strategy would also be considered further to ensure an inclusive approach across the statistics system avoiding parliamentary recess.

9. Any other business

1. The Board will next meet on Thursday 29 May.