Dear Liz,   

Communication of transport insurance data in ONS consumer trends statistics

As you are aware, we were recently asked to review elements of the consumer trends data – in particular, the administrative costs of transport insurance from Table 12.5.4 of the series.  

We are grateful to the team for its cooperation, and we welcome the steps that ONS has already taken to improve its communication of the consumer trends during our review. For example, the latest release has updated messaging stating that some estimates are forecast when there is too much of a lag in the data.   

To support users’ understanding of the statistics, it is important that ONS progresses its plan to provide a fuller update to consumer trends documentation to ensure that key information is kept up to date and equally available to all, in line with the principles of intelligent transparency. This includes greater clarity on the insurance data being based on modelled estimates.  

Our review also highlighted opportunities for ONS to review its approach to dealing with queries, as there was a slowness in grasping the fundamental nature of the initial request. This led to conflicting and often confusing information being given when a straightforward response could have been provided. We will continue to monitor this and will be in touch if we feel there are any remaining areas to address.  

I am copying this letter to David Freeman, Deputy Director, Economic Statistics Production and Analysis; and Martina Portanti, Assistant Deputy Director, Economic Statistics Production and Analysis. 

Yours sincerely,  

 

Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR