Many statisticians and analysts are now starting to think differently and move away from off-the-shelf software. Within the Government Statistical Service this approach is known as a Reproducible Analytical Pipeline.
We’ve launched a review of the way the statistical models were built and overseen. It is not our intention to apportion blame or to launch criticisms with the benefit of hindsight. We want to focus on the future: how to implement models in a way that is consistent with public confidence.
Today, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) published their report on ‘Unlocking the value of data through onward sharing’. As Director of a partnership that exists to do just that, I wholeheartedly welcome this new guidance.
This month the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published a new tool, aiming to bring together health statistics from across government in one place. We welcome this tool to improve user access to vital information on health.
The Office of Statistics Regulation (OSR) can designate statistics as ‘National Statistics’, but what does this actually mean? We need to look back to understand the future of statistic designations.
Language is tricky. And especially adjectives. We need to be careful that in bringing statistics to life, we don’t choose words that could mislead or imply there’s something in the statistics that isn’t really there.
In a recent seminar we asked members of the Government Statistical Service for three words they would use to describe Government Statistics. Among the top words we got back were ‘trustworthy’, ‘quality’ and ‘informative’.
We introduced a scheme in 2018 alongside the publication of the Code of Practice that we call ‘voluntary application’. It is where an organisation releasing non-official data elects to hold themselves to the three pillars of the Code of Practice.
On paper, linking data sets might sound simple but, in practice, it is often difficult. This is why I’m so excited about the recent work we’ve seen from the Ministry of Justice.
“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking”. Our recent review of HMRC statistics highlights the importance of quality in helping to ensure public trust in official statistics.