In our latest blog, OSR Regulator and former Police Information Analyst Ben Kendall Ward discusses how the Home Office’s National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) is improving the way police statistics are recorded. Prior to joining OSR I worked for the police as an Information Analyst for seven years. One of my duties was to […]
Statistics Regulator Oliver Fox-Tatum explores what we mean by effective analytical leadership and how our TQV (Trustworthiness, Quality and Value) framework supports this. So… what do we mean by Analytical leadership? Effective analytical leadership ensures that the right data and analyses are available, and that analysts are skilled and resourced to answer society’s most important […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust health and social care statistics into the headlines. Never has there been more scrutiny or spotlight on health statistics – they are widely quoted, in Number 10 briefings, in the news, across social media, on Have I Got News for you… and everyone (it seems) is an expert. Nearly 2 […]
‘The public good’ is a phrase which you might not have come across before. When I first joined the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) nearly two years ago, I had no real idea what it meant, but I knew that it was something very important to OSR; something which was mentioned in nearly every meeting […]
It may be too early to talk about Christmas for some – not for me. I have decided on the design theme, got my advent calendar, am close to finalising the Christmas menu and have started ordering gifts. I am all over it! And getting more excited by the day. Christmas means different things to different people, but it is certainly my favourite census related celebration. Weren’t Mary and Joseph off to Bethlehem to register as part of a census? Timely then as […]
I felt immensely excited and proud to be one of the 1,000 volunteers helping at COP26 in my home city of Glasgow. Volunteers came from different corners of the globe, to perform a range of tasks. I was a shuttle hub volunteer which means I helped those going to COP26 get from there and back […]
We recently hosted a lively public event where we engaged with a varied audience answering questions about our work during the pandemic. We are delighted that the public is taking such a keen interest in statistics, data and evidence. We work hard to ensure that numbers needed and consumed by the public uphold the scrutiny […]
There has been a lot of talk about a UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) technical report. It includes information on COVID-19 case rates in England for vaccinated and unvaccinated groups (Table 5). For some the immediate reaction to these data has been outright disbelief, others have used the data to support pre-existing, and incorrect, views […]
My favourite number is 6. It was the number Roberto Carlos, my footballing idol, wore when he played for Brazil. As a kid I remember trying to recreate his infamous banana free kick versus France (1997) over, and over again. Practice makes perfect they say. So here, in honour of Senhor Carlos, I am going […]
Over the past 18 months we’ve talked a lot about transparency. We’ve made public interventions such as our call for UK governments to provide more transparency around COVID data, and it’s been prominent in our vision for the future of analysis in government, including in our Statistical Leadership and State of Statistical System reports. But […]