Dear Mr Griffiths,
I wanted to follow up on my letter to the Committee of 21 October relating to quarterly growth data for Wales.
As you will be aware, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) made the decision to pause the publication of our Quarterly Regional GDP (QRGDP) publication due to concerns raised by users regarding the quality and volatility of the estimates. In the meantime, in agreement with the Welsh Government, we have continued the production and delivery of Welsh Short-Term Indicators (WSTI) to provide quarterly data for Wales.
The ONS have been working with the independent Economic Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) to review the methods for QRGDP. Their report has now been published, and includes several short-term and longer-term recommendations to improve these key statistics.
I can confirm to the Committee that the ONS plans to take on many of these recommendations immediately, which will allow us to reinstate quarterly estimates of regional GDP in an improved form. We will recommence publication of these figures for Wales later this year. Further information on our plans for reintroduction are detailed in a blog.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond