Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, assesses compliance of these statistics against the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Accredited Official Statistics are official statistics that have been independently reviewed by OSR and confirmed to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007
OSR introduced the term ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ to describe National Statistics in September 2023. This was done following OSR’s review of the National Statistics designation and our subsequent designation refresh project, which found the term ‘National Statistics’ was not well understood by users of statistics. We are encouraging statistics producers to also adopt this new language.
We have updated our policy pages for official statistics, and we are in the process of updating our guidance material. You will see the term accredited official statistics begin to be used in OSR’s reports, as well as within official statistics releases. If you have any queries about the change, please email regulation@statistics.gov.uk.
OSR are currently reviewing our Code of Practice for Statistics. The call for written evidence includes some questions about introducing new badges for official statistics – including a new badge that incorporates the label Accredited Official Statistics, which would replace the current National Statistics badge. You can find out more on the Code review webpage – see section of the call for evidence (Word file). The call for evidence is open until 11 December 2023.
The List of Accredited Official Statistics
The List of Accredited Official Statistics (formerly known as the List of National Statistics) is a comprehensive list of all official statistics that the Office for Statistics Regulation has independently reviewed and accredited. To become accredited, an official statistic must be assessed against the Code of Practice for Statistics by OSR and be found to comply with these standards.
The list will be updated regularly. Changes may occur when:
- new official statistics are accredited;
- the accreditation is cancelled or suspended for existing official statistics; or
- official statistics are discontinued and no longer released.