About the UK Statistics Authority

The UK Statistics Authority (the Authority) was established under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 as the body responsible for overseeing the UK statistical system.

The Authority operates independently from government. Formally it is an independent statutory body, and a non-ministerial department that reports directly to the parliaments of the UK, Scotland and Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly.  

The Authority is led by the Authority Board  (the Board), which is made up of a Chair, at least five more non-executive members, and three executive members.  

The Authority’s statutory objective is to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics, as delivered on its behalf by the three statistical bodies it oversees: 

• The Government Statistical Service (GSS): the cross-government community of all those involved in the production of official statistics in the UK 
• The Office for National Statistics (ONS): the executive office of the Authority and the largest producer of official statistics in the UK 
• The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR): the regulatory arm of the Authority, which assesses official statistics for compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics and reports on system-wide issues and on how statistics are used 

The Cabinet Office is the Authority’s sponsoring department. There is a written agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) describing the responsibilities of the Cabinet Office with respect to the Authority, and their working relationship. 

About our work

The Authority’s statutory objective is to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics that ‘serve the public good’, by: 

• informing the public about social and economic matters 
• assisting in the development and evaluation of public policy 
• regulating quality and publicly challenging the misuse of statistics

Official statistics benefit the whole of society and the economy. They aid government decisions and allow for the evaluation of government performance, as well as informing economic and business activity. Official statistics provide valuable information for analysts, researchers and public bodies, and enable the public to hold organisations that spend public money to account.  

Official statistics are also used to inform public debate. The Authority comments on the public use and communication of official statistics in cases of misuse. For further detail on the Authority’s role in making public interventions, and the factors that we consider in making these interventions, please read our interventions policy, or read the FAQs on OSR’s website. 

Our priorities

In October 2025, the Authority Board published an open letter setting out its current priorities and values for the statistical system. 

The priorities in this letter will be delivered by the three bodies of the statistical system that the Authority oversees: the Government Statistical Service (GSS), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). 

Its key priorities include: 

• Oversight of ONS recovery plans: We will scrutinise progress on ONS economic and survey recovery plans post-Devereux Review, including technological resilience and legacy system reduction. 
• Foresight: We will be vigilant, anticipating and addressing risks, and ensuring the Board’s oversight prevents avoidable missteps. 
• Engagement: We will focus on earning and maintaining confidence in the Authority and official statistics through clear communications, engagement with Parliament, and follow-up on the UK Statistics Assembly. 
• System-wide leadership: We will focus on setting and communicating strategic priorities for the statistical system. We will strengthen governance, champion leadership and talent development, and support the evolving role of the National Statistician. 
• 2031 Census: We will oversee preparations for the 2031 Census, including user and stakeholder engagement, through a dedicated Board sub-committee. 

Statistics Commission archive

Before the Statistics Authority was established, there was the Statistics Commission (the Commission), which ran from June 2000 to March 2008. The Commission was an independent body meant to ‘help ensure that official statistics are trustworthy and responsive to public needs’, to ‘give independent, reliable and relevant advice’, and by so doing, to ‘provide an additional safeguard on the quality and integrity’ of official statistics.

Most of its papers are publicly available. As well as carrying out research and publishing reports, the Commission investigated and responded to specific public concerns about official statistics and worked with government departments to improve understanding of user needs and the governance of statistical services more generally. 

The Statistics Commission archive contains a collection of corporate information and research papers from the Commission.