The National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics (NSCASE) plays a role in the governance of economic statistics. The Committee supports the National Statistician by making recommendations and providing advice to them on economic matters relevant to the ONS.
NSCASE supports the UK by ensuring its processes for influencing and adopting international statistical standards are world leading. Specifically, the Committee provides advice to the National Statistician on:
- The suitability of current standards across the ONS’s suite of economic data;
- which standards the UK should adopt in the future, to meet the specific measurement needs of the UK economy, while ensuring international comparability; and
- how the UK should influence the development of future standards.
The advice NSCASE provides to the National Statistician spans the full range of domains in economic statistics, including the National Accounts, fiscal statistics, prices, environmental economic accounting, trade and the balance of payments and labour market statistics. It identifies global measurement best practice and considers how best to meet the imperative for internationally comparable statistics. It also identifies opportunities for statistical innovation and supports statistical producers as they seek to ensure that their statistics accurately capture economic reality.
Copies of the papers presented to the Committee and detailed minutes of each meeting are published four weeks after the date of the meeting. These will be published in minutes and papers.
The objectives of this Committee are rooted in the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007). This legislation placed responsibility for statistical standards, methodologies and classifications with the newly established UK Statistics Authority. Their main advisor on these matters is the National Statistician. Between 2007 and 2020, this domestic legislative framework operated alongside a range of European laws on statistics.
During this period, the UK had a legal obligation to compile its economic statistics using the frameworks and guidance set out by Eurostat: the statistical office of the European Union (EU). Following the UK’s exit from the EU, we are strengthening the way we produce and quality assure our statistics with new governance arrangements that will support the adoption and implementation of high-quality standards for UK economic statistics.
These governance arrangements support the adoption and implementation of high-quality standards for UK economic statistics. They promote international comparability and add to the credibility and independence of the UK’s statistical system. Drawing on the best domestic and international expertise to address the key measurement challenges of modern economies, we work in partnership with other international statistical organisations to progress these issues on the world stage. Our new governance arrangements help to achieve the UKSA’s strategic objectives as set out in ‘Statistics for the Public Good’.