Dear Mr McMillan
LEARNING DISABILITY STATISTICS SCOTLAND
Thank you for your letter of 15 December, requesting temporary suspension of National Statistics status for Learning Disability Statistics Scotland because of data quality concerns. I welcome your team’s openness and engagement with us over the last few months on this.
Your plans to liaise with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to incorporate the learning disability data within the social care data collection is a good step forward. There are some clear benefits in doing this, including reducing the burden on data suppliers, maximising data linkage opportunities and improving the public value of these statistics. Whilst these plans are encouraging, it is unfortunate to hear that a stall in obtaining revised Data Sharing Agreements from each of the partnerships has led to a delay in the data being appropriately shared with you for analysis and publication. I hope that your continued liaison with Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Government help to overcome these barriers and lead to a swift resolution.
We will continue to engage with Ruth Callander, your Evidence and Data Adviser, and look forward to considering the restoration of National Statistics status once you are assured that the statistics can meet the standards expected by the Code of Practice for Statistics.
I am copying this letter to Scott Heald, Head of Profession for Statistics, Public Health Scotland.
Yours sincerely,
Ed Humpherson
Director General for Regulation
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