Dear Ed,

Thank you for your letter dated 16th December 2021, which set out the outcome of your recent assessment of NISRA’s Broad Economy Sales & Export Statistics.

I wanted at the outset to put on record our appreciation for all of the work that you and your team at the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) put into the assessment and for both the courteous and professional manner that the team engaged with us here at NISRA and the insights provided.

I am exceptionally proud of the work that Chris Ganley and his team have delivered thus far in respect of the BESES and, in particular, for the wider insights that they continue to provide on NI Trade more generally. Their commitment to stakeholder engagement and user satisfaction is, in my view, exemplary as evidenced by the numerous messages of support and commendation received from across Government over the past few years as they provided critical and timely input on EU Exit and the NI Protocol.

At NISRA, we value the independent perspective & challenge that the OSR brings through its regulatory work. The team will take considerable encouragement from the many positive aspects of your assessment report and will proactively address the two areas that you believe will strengthen the statistics further. Our planned follow-up user consultation event has already been scheduled for 20 January 2022.

Yours sincerely,
Brian Green, Director of Sources, NISRA

cc Siobhan Carey CBE, Registrar General for NI & Chief Executive NISRA