In our latest blog, OSR Assessment Programme Lead, Siobhan, looks at the importance of continuous improvement of statistics.
Here at the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), we independently assess whether official statistics comply with the standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. If they do, they will be labelled accredited official statistics.
But I often get asked: I’m planning on improving my statistics. What does this mean for my accredited official statistics status – Is it ok to do this? Can I keep the accreditation?
Firstly, keep improving your statistics. It’s essential to ensuring they stay relevant. Improvement can take various forms, from adding new data sources – as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) did when it introduced rail fares and second-hand cars advertised prices data to improve the accuracy of its consumer prices and retail price inflation statistics – to introducing new questions in a survey or testing out new more-efficient systems and processes. For example, the Ministry of Justice and HM Courts & Tribunals Service aligned their methodologies to improve the coherence of Crown Court official statistics and management information. The importance of ensuring that statistics continue to have relevancy and value for users is why continuous improvement and development feature prominently in the Code – both in its current form and in the new, updated version that OSR is currently developing.
Secondly, there is always an element of risk when improving things; you never quite know what you’ll find. But that’s not a reason to not try. When you knock down a wall to renovate your house, you can’t always anticipate the gas pipe you’ll find and have to cap off. The key is to be transparent about what you find and to respond appropriately.
Thirdly, listen to and clearly communicate and engage with users, the public and experts from across the UK and internationally as part of your continuous improvement work to help generate ideas and to test out your planned improvements. For example, National Records of Scotland engaged with international census experts to successfully change and improve how it calculated its final Census 2022 estimates and communicated uncertainty. More recently, I was lucky enough to attend the Escoe conference in May, where I heard about some of the improvements to methods, data sources and definitions currently being considered by academics and government statisticians to improve the relevance of statistics for users. Earlier this year, I also observed the fascinating discussions at the UK Statistics Assembly, which brought together producers, users and potential users of statistics to discuss and advise on the statistical and data priorities for the UK.
Back to the question on accreditation…
Improving your statistics may or may not impact on your statistics’ accreditation status. If the changes are substantial enough, you will need to consider relabelling them as ‘official statistics in development’ after receiving agreement from us to remove the accreditation. If the statistics are not currently accredited, you can decide to relabel them as ‘official statistics in development’ under the guidance of your Head of Profession for Statistics.
For official statistics in development, you would need to run a development project to manage the design, implementation and evaluation of these changes. For example, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero developed new statistics, labelled initially as official statistics in development, to monitor the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. The statistics’ journey from official statistics in development to official statistics is set out in a blog.
But many alternations will not be substantial enough to require a change to your statistic’s accreditation status. Our guide on producing official statistics in development can help you determine whether a change in status is necessary and the process to following when developing official statistics. We also have some information on scenarios that could impact on your accreditation status.
Most importantly, as I said at the start – keep improving those statistics. You can never quite know what lies ahead, but continuous improvement is vital to keep statistics relevant and to help all of us to better understand the world around us and hold government to account.
If you have any questions about improving your official statistics, please just get in touch with us by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk, speaking with your domain team or contacting your Head of Profession for Statistics.