As a communications professional, I use insights and ideas to implement and deliver impactful communications. Using statistics is a great way to use evidence and explain complicated information, but comms people are not always well-known for their statistical literacy and this can sometimes cause problems. During a busy day in the comms team, any use […]
Ok so that’s not quite true. I’ve been working with a focus on population and society statistics for the past three years here at the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and I love it. Working on areas such as migration, culture, wellbeing… it is fascinating. These statistics form such an important role in people, government […]
In 2020 we assessed estimates of station usage produced by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and designated them as National Statistics in December. In this blog, Lyndsey Melbourne, Head of Profession for Statistics at ORR, and Anna Price, the lead regulator for the assessment, talk about their experience and why assessments of official […]
How data-literate do Senior Leaders in Government need to be? There was a time when it would be inconceivable to imagine senior Government Ministers and officials addressing the nation accompanied by a series of charts and statistics, but over the course of the pandemic it has become relatively normal. Our Leaders are more reliant on […]
It’s roughly a year ago that I gave evidence to the House of Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee. A lot has happened in a year. I did things at the evidence session that don’t happen now. The Committee session took place in person, not over Zoom. I shook hands with the other witnesses. Afterwards […]
Every day we see figures for number of COVID-19 deaths in the UK quoted in the media, but what do these mean, and which figures should we pay most attention to? With the rising death rate, and the complexity and potential confusion surrounding this seemingly straightforward measure of the impact of COVID-19, we are increasingly […]
2020 was a year in which statistics and data were at the centre of public life. We became a nation of armchair epidemiologists. There’s no sign that this will change in 2021. We expect statistics to remain in the public eye with the pandemic continuing to effect all aspects of life, a national COVID-19 vaccination […]
Do statistics provide a sort of ground truth, anchoring our perceptions of the world? Last year I was invited to participate in a conference on digital innovation in mental health, run by the excellent Dr Becky Inkster. The theme was “ground truth”, that is, the perceptions and experiences of each individual and how they feel […]
This year I’ve written 9 blogs, ranging from an exploration of data gaps to a celebration of the armchair epidemiologists. I was thinking of making it to double figures, setting out my reflections across a tumultuous year. And describing my pride in what the Office for Statistics Regulation team has delivered. But, as so often […]
Effie Roberts and Isabel Ralphs joined our team as placement students in September this year. Difficult as this year has been, both of them have used the challenges to their advantage and have made great strides to develop their skills. From conquering imposter syndrome to ‘peeking behind the scenes’ of statistics, Effie and Isabel tell […]