The National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics (NSCASE) will play a central role in the governance of economic statistics, by supporting decisions about the guidance used in the compilation of these statistics.
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 will support the adoption and implementation of high-quality standards for UK economic statistics. They will 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 will work in partnership with other international statistical organisations to progress these issues on the world stage. Our new governance arrangements will help to achieve the UKSA’s strategic objectives as set out in ‘Statistics for the Public Good’.
At the centre of this new governance framework will be the new National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics (NSCASE). NSCASE will support the UK by ensuring its processes for influencing and adopting international statistical standards are world-leading. Specifically, the Committee will provide 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 will span the full range of domains in economic statistics, including the National Accounts, fiscal statistics, prices, trade and the balance of payments and labour market statistics. It will identify global measurement best practice and will consider how best to meet the imperative for internationally comparable statistics. It will also identify opportunities for statistical innovation and will support statistical producers as they seek to ensure that their statistics accurately capture economic reality.
