Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation to Jackie Orme, Head of Profession for Statistics, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Dear Jackie,
ASSESSMENT OF DCMS SECTORS ECONOMIC ESTIMATES
Thank you for inviting us to assess DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates against the Code of Practice for Statistics. We have completed the assessment and have today published our Assessment Report. I am grateful for the positive contribution of your staff and for their engagement throughout the assessment process.
DCMS Sector Economic Estimates estimate the contribution of DCMS Sectors to the UK economymeasured by GVA, regional GVA, Employment, Trade and Business. They cover Civil Society, the Creative Industries, the Cultural Sector, the Digital Sector, Gambling, Sport, Telecoms and Tourism. We welcome the commitment of DCMS’s statisticians to developing these innovative statistics to describe this complex landscape to meet user needs, and their commitment to publishing these in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. Our report highlights many examples of good practice as identified in the assessment. In particular:
• It is clear that the team has continuously sought and responded to user feedback to improve the value of these statistics, and that the team has very good relationships with many of its stakeholders.
• The team has sought and taken on board feedback from the Government Statistical Service Good Practice Team to significantly improve the clarity and layout of the publications.
• We welcome the way the team has worked with the Office for National Statistics to draw on its expertise of complex data sources, and to develop estimates that can be compared with those which describe the whole UK economy.
We judge that the DCMS Economic Estimates can be designated as National Statistics once we have confirmed that the six requirements set out in the report have been met. This will demonstrate that your statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value and comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics. You are due to report back to us by 28 February 2019 outlining how you have addressed the requirements.
One of these requirements is to plan a refresh of the sector definitions, to introduce greater consistency in the approaches used to define the sectors and subsectors. The refresh should lead to a set of estimates that meet the needs of stakeholders across a broader range of sub-sectors, in addition to meeting DCMS’s requirement to understand the aggregate position. We will review the statistics again once the refresh has been implemented to ensure continued improvement in the quality of the estimates.
Please feel free to discuss any aspect of this with me or my team at any time.
Yours sincerely,
Ed Humpherson
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