It is an exciting time for us in the regulatory team of the UK Statistics Authority as we work to enhance our role as the regulator of statistics. To maintain high levels of public value, statistics need to change to reflect changing society and commerce. We aim to move to be more transformational: more impactful, strategic, and proactive. Our ambition is to be an independent regulator that champions the power of statistics and supports public confidence in these statistics.
Our goal is to increase the public value of statistics by increasing the appropriate use of statistics and the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics themselves.
This period of change and evolution for the UK Statistics Authority’s regulatory function is something which I am excited and enthused about. I recently said more about our developing plans to improve regulation and champion professional excellence and why I relish the opportunity in this magazine interview.
This enthusiasm is based in part on the progress we’ve already made. We have already started implementing changes – like our innovative work to define and embed standards for the quality of administrative data, and high profile work on CPIH and homelessness statistics – and we have put together a blueprint for how we can do more. Over the next few months we will develop and test our new approach to statistics regulation, gauging reactions from a range of stakeholders, and implementing further changes to our regulatory model.
I will be writing here regularly in the coming months to update you on these developments.
We believe strongly in the value of statistics to society and decision makers of all kinds. We welcome input from anyone with an interest in statistics about how we can achieve our ambition.