What we do

The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body at arm’s length from government. We have a statutory objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that ‘serve the public good’. The public good includes:

  • 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

The collective mission of the official statistics system, set out in the Statistics for the public good strategy, is to provide high quality data and analysis to inform the UK, improve lives and build the future.

Our remit covers the three principal elements of the UK official statistics system:

A Memorandum of Understanding describes the responsibilities of the Cabinet Office with respect to the UK Statistics Authority, as an independent statutory body.