Members present

• Penny Young (Chair)
• Dr. Jacob Abboud
• Peter Barron
• Ed Humpherson
• Professor Dame Carol Propper
• Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter
• Professor Mairi Spowage
• Dr. Sarah Walsh

Other attendees

• James Benford
• June Bowman
• Kirsty Campion (for item 10)
• Lucinda Eggleton (for item 6)
• Mary Gregory
• Sarah Jennings (for items 10 and 11)
• Sarah Moore
• James O’Brien (for items 10 and 11)
• Natalie Tarr (for item 10)
• Tom Taylor

Secretariat

• Sally Jones
• Tom Marsh

Apologies

• Darren Tierney

1. Apologies

1. Apologies were noted from Darren Tierney.

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 26 March were agreed.

4. Report from the Authority Chair [SA(26)25]

1. The Chair reported on her activities since the Board last met. The recruitment process for two independent members of Regulation Committee had concluded with the appointment of Darren Morgan, who had attended his first meeting on 23 April, and Professor Sir David Spiegalthalter, whose term would commence on 1 June following his term ending as a Non-executive Director in May.

5. Report from the Permanent Secretary [SA(26)26]

1. The report from the Permanent Secretary was noted in his absence. James Benford and Mary Gregory additionally highlighted the following:
   1. the second quarterly update on the Economic Statistics Plan (ESP) and Survey Improvement Enhancement Plan (SIEP) had been published with feedback from stakeholders noting the transparency of reporting and welcoming the waiting room concept;
   2. the Internal Audit Report on ESP had been shared with the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) ahead of discussion at its meeting on 14 May. The report concluded with limited assurance, which highlighted the complexity of the work and where the programme is in its development. ONS had separately undertaken an independent review of ESP which combined with broader lessons learned on change management from previous ONS programmes. The appointment of a Director for Economic Statistics Improvement would also support ONS mature in its approach to complex change;
   3. the next ESP/SIEP update ONS would reset the recovery plans, bringing together the end to end view across surveys and production to ensure greater delivery predictability and realistic timelines;
   4. the approach to administrative based population estimates statistics at a local level with work ongoing to develop an improvement action plan;
   5. the results of the first quarterly ONS Pulse Survey, which had been set up to help measure progress against people priorities in between People Surveys, showed progress across many of ONS’s people priorities.
2. Members discussed the performance report and highlighted the increased number of overdue internal audit actions since the last report. It was clarified that some had already been completed since papers had been issued and there was no longer an increase in the number. The Board highlighted the importance of timely completion of audit actions noting that ARAC would discuss further at its next meeting. It was noted that business survey performance reflected a mixed approach with some, not all, business surveys, mandated.
3. The Board noted the second quarterly publication of delivery progress of ESP/SIEP and progress made.

6. Report from the National Statistician’s Office [SA(26)27]

1. Lucinda Eggleton provided an update on activities across the National Statistician’s Office (NSO) highlighting that Darren Tierney would be attending the next meeting of the National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Advisory Committee to discuss the recent announcements by ONS on prioritisation and potential implications for the inclusiveness of key data sources. James Benford had visited Eurostat to discuss opportunities for collaboration on economic statistics and Artificial Intelligence readiness. James Benford reported on the opportunities for shared learning noting that discussions had included ONS’s achievement on use of AI classification.
2. The Board noted the progress made in driving response to the UK Statistics Assembly, which had been recognised by the Deputy Heads of the Government Statistical Service. The Board noted thanks for ongoing work by the GSS harmonisation team on the development of a harmonised standard for data collection on sex, following detailed discussion by a number of NEDs. The Chair had attended the Inter Administration Committee held at the Northern Ireland Statistics Research Agency, which had considered the system wide approach to coherence. Members noted that NSO colleagues should liaise with OSR given the extensive work already undertaken by OSR on comparable UK wide data.

7. Report from the Director General for Regulation [SA(26)28]

1. Ed Humpherson updated the Board on the work by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) since the last meeting focusing his report around OSR’s strategic themes: OSR as a credible and rigorous regulator, system catalyst and public use of statistics.
2. OSR had considered its regulatory work on ONS population statistics following ONS’s change in approach to Administrative Based Population Estimates, and highlighting the outcomes of the regulatory review OSR had recently undertaken a compliance review of ONS Mid-Year Population Estimates. The review highlighted concerns around the quality of subnational estimates. The draft report had been shared with ONS and would be published after the upcoming elections.
3. OSR had published a statement: Understanding National Health Service planned care waiting times statistics across the UK, which had been a recurring theme during the local election period. The statement noted the difficulty of making comparisons of health data across the UK and that it was incumbent on political figures to use data and statistics responsibly and not risk misleading the public, especially on matters of high public interest.
4. The Board heard that OSR had received its first piece of casework on harmonisation of ethnicity standards. It was noted that the next DG update to the Board in May would reference the Northern Ireland Labour Market Statistics.
5. The Board discussed a specific piece of casework relating to misleading references to the increase in the number of people in receipt of Universal Credit by Shadow Cabinet members. The Board agreed the importance of responding publicly before the upcoming elections if feasible.

8. Report from the Chair of the Regulation Committee

1. The Chair reported on the work of the Regulation Committee, which had last met on 23 April 2026.
2. The Committee had considered:
   1. OSR’s compliance report on the ONS Mid-Year Population Estimates and approved the report noting the need for consideration on handling regarding any accreditation decision for local level estimates. It was agreed that the Population Statistics System Committee (subcommittee of the Authority Board) would oversee ONS’s implementation of recommendations providing an additional layer of assurance and oversight;
   2. OSR’s response to ONS’s Economic Statistics quarterly update, noting the progress made and remaining risks;
   3. members confirmed the accreditation of the 2021 Census in England and Wales outputs (excluding gender identity statistics); and confirmed the accreditation of statistics on the NHS workforce in Scotland;
   4. the work by OSR on Intelligent Transparency and the development of a minimum viable product of a Public Use of Statistics Profile to assess departments’ compliance with intelligent transparency and standards for public use of statistics, data and wider analysis; and
   5. OSR’s strategy evaluation plan and its approach to considering methodology as part of regulatory work.
3. The Committee had welcomed Darren Morgan to his first meeting as an independent member.

9. Communications update

1. Peter Barron and Sarah Moore reported on recent media coverage since the last meeting, which had been positive particularly in relation to the annual update to the inflation basket and introduction of scanner data. That said it was acknowledged that, given the challenges and context that media sentiment reporting would continue to be variable in the coming months.
2. The Board welcomed the improved external sentiment rating noting thanks for the work by the Communications Team, which would continue to be transparent in support of users and stakeholders. It was agreed that a substantive item on the longer term Communications Strategy would be scheduled for the May Board meeting.

10. Strategic Risk Profile [SA(26)29]

1. Natalie Tarr and Kirsty Campion introduced a paper which provided the Board with an updated strategic risk profile following separate workshops with NEDs and ONS Executives. The refreshed strategic risk profile had also been considered by ONS Executive Committee (ExCo) and the ARAC.
2. The Board heard that a major transformation of the risk profile was not being proposed. There were a number of key changes to risk articulation and risk appetite ranges including: a new strategic risk around the delivery of Census 2031; closure of the quality management framework risk as the framework forms part of the quality strategic risks; a rearticulation of user needs risk and an increase in appetite range reflecting ONS’s more open approach to making prioritisation decisions; splitting of the finance risk into two – one in relation to finances and the other in relation to delivery of strategic ambition; and a rearticulation of the data risk. The Authority wide overarching risk had been rearticulated to cover oversight and assurance of official statistics alongside independence. This risk would have three supporting pillars (ONS, GSS and OSR) with each owning relevant controls. A recent workshop with GSS Deputy Heads identified some areas for control which would feed into this risk.
3. With regard to the risk profile the People strategic risk had returned to appetite as a result of improvements in culture and resourcing, following discussion by the People Committee. It was acknowledged that both the quality economic statistics and technological resilience strategic risks would likely remain outside of appetite for some time. The Risk and Assurance Team expected a number of risks would return to appetite within a few months and reported an improved position.
4. Members discussed the update. The following points were made in discussion:
   1. members agreed with the proposed changes to the Authority’s strategic risk profile;
   2. addressing common foundational weaknesses/themes such as governance and oversight of programmes and technological issues could help mitigate a number of risks simultaneously;
   3. the need for ARAC to test the improvements to the risk profile through new reporting by the Risk and Assurance team to the May ARAC meeting. The Head of Assurance and Head of Risk confirmed that they were assured by the proposed changes to the risk profile, noting that they needed to test the effectiveness of the controls as they mature, and if any proved not to be effective, in line with good risk management, some risks may move out of appetite;
   4. the overarching Authority risk could also include a control for the Board in addition to ONS, OSR and the GSS, given the failure of activities here could lead to lack of trust;
   5. the rearticulation of the ‘optimising value for users’ risks aligned to strategic priorities could be considered in the context of ONS’s mission statement, ‘to deliver trustworthy, independent, high quality statistics that underpin the UK’s most critical economic and societal decisions and inform the public’. Doing so would emphasise the point around prioritising statistics that underpin critical decisions; and
   6. the value of introducing a trigger mechanism and escalation process for strategic risks reporting out of appetite for a period of time, noting ARAC’s role in flagging risks to Board. The R&A team are currently reviewing their risk and assurance framework and would ensure clear lines of escalation are further built on.
5. The Board agreed the changes to the Authority’s strategic risk profile including the rearticulation of the overarching risk, trust and independence which would be owned by the Permanent Secretary (until a National Statistician arrived) and overseen by the Board. It was also agreed that the overarching risk remains outside risk appetite for now and that the Risk and Assurance Team would consider how best to introduce a trigger mechanism for strategic risks to ensure the right level of oversight and challenge.

11. ONS Business Plan [SA(26)30]

1. Sarah Jennings introduced the final draft of the 2026/27 2028/29 ONS Business Plan for approval ahead of publication in May. The draft plan had been circulated to members for comment in correspondence ahead of the meeting.
2. The Board heard that development of the plan had been a key focus for the ExCo and Senior colleagues in recent months. The aim of the plan was to clearly articulate ONS’ workplan and priorities – what they would deliver – as well as being transparent about the challenges ahead for ONS in terms of its recovery. The three year spending review process had enabled ONS to look beyond the immediate and produce a three year plan. Engagement with colleagues across the organisation on the development of the plan, incorporated lessons learned outcomes from the activity undertaken in summer 2025, which had highlighted areas for development acknowledging that previous planning approaches could be improved. The need for stronger planning and prioritisation were also key themes reflected at the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry sessions and by the Devereux Review. The approach going forward would be more disciplined incorporating a more mature methodology to sequence and manage complex change. Four main changes activities had been prioritised to be progressed immediately: Census 2031, the Statistical Business Register, Transformed Labour Force Survey and Content and Website Transformation. A new mechanism – the Waiting Room – had been introduced with activity only initiated when fully resourced and supported by agreed delivery criteria. The Performance and Change Committee, a subcommittee of ExCo, would have responsibility for oversight of the plan escalating to ExCo (and the Board) when required.
3. Members discussed the update. The following points were made in discussion:
   1. the value of the delivery assurance framework in place, which would help identify blockers to delivery of the plan;
   2. the need to review the Performance Overview section of the plan to ensure it reflected the extent of the difficult organisational context over the last year;
   3. the impact on core funding 2026/27 in relation to the Census 2031 programme ringfence. Discussions by the finance team were ongoing with HMT colleagues. The business plan might need to be revisited depending on the outcome of these discussions;
   4. a recognition that the plan incorporated a bottom up and top down approach – it would be important to monitor how the reality tracks plan through the year;
   5. the need for clarity on the Waiting Room mechanism to ensure users and stakeholders understood the approach;
   6. more clarity in the way workstreams were allocated against outcomes and objectives including the role of an NSI; and
   7. strengthening reference to the role of the Authority Board in providing support, oversight, scrutiny and challenge to hold ONS to account on delivery.
4. The Board endorsed the draft ONS Business Plan subject to the comments made in this discussion. There was a need to adjust the tone of the plan to provide clarity on past and remaining challenges in terms of ONS recovery. In terms of public transparency it would be useful to provide more detail.

12. Any other business

1. Professor Mairi Spowage informed the Board that she had been asked to Chair the Secure Research Service Strategic Governance Board in the absence of a National Statistician. She had also accepted an invite to join the GSS Leadership Development Programme Steering Group.