Present

UK Statistics Authority

• Sir David Norgrove (Chair)
• Professor Sir John Aston
• Sam Beckett
• Helen Boaden
• Professor Sir Ian Diamond
• Richard Dobbs
• Ed Humpherson
• Nora Nanayakkara
• Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter
• Professor Anne Trefethen

Also in attendance

• Nick Bateson
• Pete Benton (for item 10)
• Owen Brace
• Meghan Elkin (for item 9)
• Liz McKeown (for item 9)
• Alison Pritchard

Apologies

• Robert Bumpstead
• Professor Jonathan Haskel
• Sian Jones (Deputy Chair)

1. Apologies

1. Apologies were received from Robert Bumpstead, Professor Johnathan Haskel and Sian Jones.

2. Declarations of Interest

1. There were no new declarations of interest.

3. Minutes and matters arising from previous meeting

1. The minutes of the meeting on 30 September 2021 were agreed.

4. Report from the Authority Chair

1. Non-Executives had met prior to the Board meeting. They had discussed the recruitment process for the Chair.
2. The Chair reported on his recent activity since the Board last met highlighting:
   1. Sir David had met the ONS environmental statistics team on 1 October ahead of a meeting on 5 October, alongside Professor Sir Ian Diamond and the team, with Lord Deben, (Chair of the Climate Change Committee (CCC)), and Chris Stark (Chief Executive, CCC);
   2. Sir David had chaired a meeting of the Economic Experts Advisory Group on 13 October;
   3. Sir David and Sir Ian had attended the Royal Statistical Society National Statistics Advisory Group meeting on 19 October;
   4. Sir David, Sir Ian and Ed Humpherson had provided evidence to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 21 October on the work of the Authority;
   5. Sir David had attended a meeting of the Chairs of Independent Offices on 25 October; and
   6. Sir David and Sir Ian had met with Lord True, and Sir David had subsequently visited the Cabinet Office National Situation Centre on 27 October.
3. Sir David highlighted the engagement with the Heads of Profession and senior officials at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in the week of the Board meeting regarding the presentation of Covid-19 vaccination surveillance statistics.

5. Report from the Chief Executive [SA(21)60]

1. Sir Ian provided the Board with an overview of activity and issues since the last meeting, highlighting the following:
   1. progress of the Integrated Data Service particularly the engagement with stakeholders across government;
   2. ongoing discussions with stakeholders regarding the long term strategic development of the Covid-19 Infection Survey;
   3. improvements made to Gross Domestic Product with the full implementation of double deflation;
   4. following the closure of the Census output consultation on 4 October a blog had been published on 12 October setting out the processes ahead of publication of the first census results in late Spring 2022; and
   5. ONS had been named the country’s best employer for work-life balance in 2021, by the jobs website Glassdoor.

6. Report from the Director General for regulation [SA(21)61]

1. Ed Humpherson provided an update on regulation activity highlighting the discussions with UKHSA regarding the presentation of Covid-19 vaccination surveillance statistics.
2. The Board heard that a continued focus for the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) was around transparency, to ensure that where data were quoted by government departments they were made publicly available. At the recent evidence session to PACAC the OSR approach to stakeholder engagement and increased profile had been highlighted.

7. Report from the Regulation Committee

1. Professor Anne Trefethen reported on the Regulation Committee, which had met on 14 October.
2. Committee members had considered:
   1. progress against the delivery of the OSR business plan and risk management;
   2. the work by OSR on transparency with the need for metrics to track progress;
   3. the progress on the National Statistics Designation review;
   4. draft reports of OSR’s assessments of the 2021 Census in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland; and
   5. OSR’s Systemic Reviews on Climate Change, and Children and Young People.

8. Spending review 2021 [SA(21)62]

1. Nick Bateson introduced a paper which provided details of the Authority’s settlement following the Spending Review 2021 (SR21).
2. The Board welcomed the update noting that importance of delivery in the three year period aligned to the bid and the strategy.

9. Crime Statistics – Violence against Women and Girls [SA(21)63]

1. Liz McKeown introduced a paper which provided an update on the work to date led to inform the delivery of the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, the continued delivery of crime statistics and ambitious plans for the future.
2. The Board heard how the Cabinet Office had approached ONS to provide analytical leadership to help provide the evidence base needed to support the development of the VAWG Strategy. This recognised ONS’ expertise, convening power and system wide view.
3. Board members noted their thanks for an excellent presentation.

10. Census [SA(21)64]

1. Pete Benton introduced a paper which provided an update on progress on the 2021 Census, focussed on processing, outputs and dissemination. It also provided an update on progress towards the 2023 recommendation and wider transformation.
2. The Board heard that all aspects of the census collection were complete. Going forward the programme would focus on dissemination of census outputs, the evidence base to inform the 2023 recommendation and wider transformation.

11. User Engagement [SA(21)65]

1. Owen Brace introduced a paper which provided an update on actions taken to improve engagement with users.
2. The Board heard that a new central engagement hub would be set up to take forward the user engagement action plan, which would be completed by the end of the year. An external expert user advisory group to advise the National Statistician was being set up.
3. The Board noted the paper and it was agreed that a further update should be provided at a future meeting.

12. Any other business

1. The next meeting would take place on Thursday 25 November 2021.