The minutes of the April meeting were considered and approved, and all actions were closed.
2. Update from the Director General for Regulation
The Director General (DG) for Regulation presented an update on Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) activities since the previous meeting. He highlighted a number of significant deliveries, including the compliance review of mid-year population estimates, report on the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour Force Survey, and response to ONS’ progress with economic statistics. OSR’s intervention regarding Kemi Badenoch MP’s use of statistics relating to Universal Credit had prompted public and parliamentary interest. The reception to the self-evaluation tool had been positive. OSR held a session with the ONS Prices Team on self-evaluation and reaccreditation of statistics, and noted this was a positive form of outreach.
Members discussed the backlog of Accredited Official Statistics which have not been reviewed for some time. OSR were testing a triage tool that could support OSR’s prioritisation of this backlog. The initial trial results were positive, and the Committee would receive a substantial update at the next Committee meeting. Members discussed the use of Artificial Intelligence in this work, and OSR noted that it was exploring how automation could be used to improve the efficiency of the triage process.
Members discussed the combined metrics in the violence against women and girls cross-government strategy headline. OSR asked the Home Office to provide further information by explaining its justification for the metrics, and noted the challenging policy and social aspects of this work, and that it was not for OSR to dictate which metrics should be used. OSR would follow up with Peter Barron with further clarity.
The Committee heard that OSR found that ONS Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Statistics had met the standard to be reaccredited. The Committee agreed to reaccredit these as accredited official statistics. OSR noted that it was planning to conduct a compliance review of gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) statistics later this year.
The Committee questioned what work had been done to support staff’s workload and development. OSR senior leaders updated members that they aimed to produce better management information, have clearer prioritisation, and improve use of time to ease pressure. Non-executive members requested to meet with staff in September to follow-up from their initial meeting in October 2025.
3. OSR Annual Report and Strategic Risk
OSR presented the draft annual report and updated the Committee on their strategic risk. Members heard that the report had been structured around the new strategy, and spotlighted more case studies and testimonials to demonstrate the tangible outputs, while making the report shorter and more concise than previous years. The Committee’s feedback would inform the Director General’s update to the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, and would be published as an annex to the ONS Annual Report.
Members heard that the annual casework report noted a summary of the casework function over the last year, and summarised the themes from the year’s cases. OSR noted that they had observed an increase in more complex cases, requiring deeper analysis than has been typical for casework. In some of these cases, they had conducted further regulatory work such as compliance reviews to better investigate concerns.
OSR informed the Committee that the narrative associated with the strategic risk had been updated to reflect how the incoming National Statistician, once in post, could impact OSR’s role and remit it had taken in the system catalyst space. The update also reflected the increased contested space around casework.
The Committee discussed the report. The following points were raised in discussion:
members were supportive of the report, and commended the extensive programme of work;
the report could emphasise the outcomes achieved;
under the list of publications, the producers could be listed to convey the distribution of OSR’s regulatory work across the system; and
the forward look could make reference to intelligent transparency.
The Committee noted that the reports were well presented and succinct, and demonstrated the breadth of work that OSR had completed over the last year. The reports were approved.
4. State of the Statistical System
OSR introduced the draft State of the Statistical System report. It would be published on 25 June, ahead of the Chair’s lecture. Members heard that the report had received feedback from Chief Statisticians in the Devolved Governments, Government Statistical Service (GSS) Deputy Heads, and the interim Chair of the Authority Board. From their feedback, OSR would make the executive summary clearer that the recommendations were addressed to the National Statistician, and reference the GSS’s work to support the pipeline of future statisticians.
Members discussed the update. The following points were raised in discussion:
the Committee were supportive of the structure, and agreed with the comments already received;
more clarity could be added to the timelines of the recommendations, to note they were dependent on the appointment of the National Statistician;
members acknowledged how the GSS have stepped up in the absence of a National Statistician, but noted that the impact the absence of a National Statistician has had on the analytical function could be emphasised;
the population statistics section could be strengthened with the addition of a recommendation;
a balance needed to be struck between acknowledging the challenges faced by the ONS and the progress made over the previous year, including recognising improvements and stability brought by ONS senior leaders, and ensuring the report was appropriately focused on the system as a whole; and
the annex on survey response rates was very informative, and may be better depicted through a graph format.
The Committee were supportive of the report, noting the difficulty faced by the continued uncertainty of the timeline for the incoming National Statistician. OSR would implement members’ comments, and share the recommendations with the Authority Board, before publication.
5. Population Statistics: Mid-Year Estimates Accreditations
OSR updated the Committee on work since the publication of the compliance review of ONS’ Mid-Year Estimates. OSR noted that the review set out four requirements for the ONS to meet before the July publication to maintain accredited official statistics status at the sub-national level. OSR sought the Committee’s advice on next steps should ONS not meet the requirements.
The Committee discussed the update. The following points were raised in discussion:
OSR had set clear expectations in its compliance review, and should be mindful of the precedent they had set to deaccredit downstream impacts through the Labour Force Survey. The Committee were concerned that the downstream impacts in this case could be large;
OSR needed to be mindful of the precedent it had set and consider the risk if they were to take a different course of action;
ONS’ position was that only a small number of local authorities were affected, as a result of high population churn. OSR were cautious, and would require further evidence from ONS to assess this;
De-accreditation may be a blunt instrument, and could be over interpreted or risk exaggerating public concern; and
OSR’s position would be led by the evidence provided by ONS and OSR may consult members of the Committee once more information was available.
The Committee thanked OSR for the update, and noted that the response should be proportional. They discussed the importance of ONS communicating clearly with users, and acknowledged that ONS were working towards the requirements.
6. OSR Approach to Artificial Intelligence
OSR presented a paper which outlined OSR’s understanding of the current use of AI across the statistical system and OSR’s current use of AI in its regulatory work. OSR noted that the use of AI tools and models seemed to be limited in the production of official statistics, but proposed a regulatory approach centred around compliance to the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
The Committee were supportive of the proposed approach, and considered it measured and thoughtful. It could be supported by greater publicisation of the approach, and OSR were considering how to ensure the information was visible, accessible and transparent.
7. Economic and Labour Market Statistics
OSR provided an update on the progress made in regulatory work relating to Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Agency’s (NISRA) Labour Market Survey transformation, the proposed regulatory relationship with ONS economic statistics going forwards, and the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) review.
Members heard that NISRA’s Labour Market Survey’s transformation programme was ongoing. OSR established six recommendations for NISRA to meet, and noted their transparency with users and consideration of UK coherence in line with user needs. The Committee supported the recommendations and discussed the ONS Transformed Labour Force Survey. OSR noted that NISRA’s business-led approach had worked well for their survey.
OSR discussed their plans to reset the regulation of ONS economic statistics, and welcomed the Committee’s views. OSR noted that ONS had reached a more stable recovery phase, giving an opportunity to refocus OSR regulatory priorities on economic statistics. This included moving away from published OSR responses to ONS’ quarterly updates and towards an annual response. OSR would work with the ONS Statistics Heads of Profession (HoPs) office and relevant teams to review and revise recommendations from previous reviews and consider when de-accredited statistics might be ready for reassessment.
Members heard that HMRC had implemented feedback from OSR and other stakeholders as part of their review, and noted that the draft was stronger on governance, culture and accountability, but required further work on end-to-end accountability, and explanation of why past issues have persisted.
Members discussed the update. The following points were raised in discussion:
OSR’s approach to regulating ONS economic statistics was clear and managed OSR’s involvement in a measured way;
Members discussed the balance between supporting and working cooperatively with ONS, without being too close;
the pathway to reaccreditation would provide guidance to ONS, but should not be interpreted as a tick-box list, and reaccreditation decisions were subject to the regulatory assessments and reviews;
OSR sought to inject pace into the HMRC review, and the Committee supported the DG Regulation writing to the Permanent Secretary; and
Further work was needed by HMRC to address the cultural challenges to assure OSR.
The Committee thanked OSR for the updates.
The Committee were supportive of OSR’s proposals to report progress through an annual report that summarised views on progress in the round, and highlighted cross-cutting issues and longstanding recommendations. The approach would be shared with the interim Chair of the Authority.
8. Horizon Scanning
The DG Regulation was concerned that the political environment could lead to undue pressure on the GSS and HoPs. OSR had also observed an increase in concerns about misuse of statistics in a contested public debate, and noted potential for further challenge from political parties.
He also acknowledged the absence of a National Statistician, and the consequent gap in leadership of the analytical function.
