Dear Mr Wragg,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority (the Authority), I am
writing to inform the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee about the UK
Statistics (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021, that have today been laid before
Parliament.
The statutory instrument (SI) is a continuation of The UK Statistics (Amendment etc.) (EU
Exit) Regulations 2019 (2019 SI), that came into force on implementation period (IP)
completion day. The 2019 SI revoked 293 pieces of retained EU law on statistics. The aim of
the SI laid before Parliament today is to continue this approach by revoking the remaining
retained EU law on statistics, including new legislation that has come into force since the
2019 SI was laid before Parliament. The SI revokes 137 additional pieces of retained EU law
on statistics.
In revoking retained EU law requiring the onward provision of data to Eurostat, the SI
removes substantive obligations on the UK to collect statistical data at certain times and in
certain ways. While the production of statistics will continue to be subject to domestic
regulation as UK official statistics; the UK will have greater flexibility in the production of these
statistics than under EU law.
HM Paymaster General, the Rt Hon. Michael Ellis QC MP, made the SI in the Cabinet Office’s
capacity as the Authority’s sponsoring department. The Welsh Minister for Finance and Local
Government, the Scottish Deputy First Minister and the Northern Irish Minister of Finance
have confirmed the Welsh and Scottish Government’s and Northern Ireland Executive’s
consent to this instrument respectively.
Please do let me know if any questions or if you wish to discuss further.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond