Dear Philip,
Northern Ireland Business Expenditure on Research and Development (NI BERD) – Confirmation of accredited official statistics status
We have independently reviewed NISRA’s actions to address the two requirements outlined in our Spotlight on Quality assessment report on the NI BERD statistics. On behalf of the Board of the UK Statistics Authority, I am pleased to confirm that these statistics comply with the standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value in the Code of Practice for Statistics, and should once again be labelled as accredited official statistics. The detail supporting our judgement is included in the annex to this letter.
The NI BERD statistics provide insights into how much Northern Ireland businesses invest in research and development (R&D), where this funding originates and the workforce involved in R&D activities. These figures feed into UK-wide estimates and are used by the government, academics and researchers to inform policy and drive innovation.
NISRA conducted a user consultation to better understand user needs for these statistics and revised the quality report based on its findings. NISRA also plans to publish a back series, as users told them that this would be useful. We welcome the steps that NISRA has taken to increase the transparency of these statistics, and the improvements made will support users to understand and use the statistics appropriately and further enhance the value of the statistics.
I would like to thank your team for its open and positive engagement throughout our assessment and for its ongoing commitment to improving these statistics. We are particularly impressed by the positive working relationships demonstrated between the R&D teams at NISRA and at the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
I am copying this letter to Brian Green, Director of Economic Statistics.
Yours sincerely,
Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR
Annex
Review of actions undertaken in response to Assessment Report 387: Statistics on Northern Ireland’s Business Expenditure on Research and Development (NI BERD) produced by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
To provide transparency and to further understand users’ needs, NISRA should engage with users and ONS to further discuss the value of and the potential to provide a back series beyond 2018.
Actions taken by NISRA
Results from the user consultation showed that users would appreciate a back series beyond 2018. As set out in its survey development plan, NISRA has investigated the possibility of a back series and worked collaboratively with ONS on the methodology to produce this. It is now committed to providing a consistent, high-quality back series for the R&D statistics going back to 2011. This back series will be published alongside the statistical release at the end of November.
OSR’s evaluation of evidence
We judge that this requirement has been met. NISRA listened to its users (60% were in favour of a back series) and worked with ONS to fulfil the need for a back series.
The survey development plan published in August 2024 informed users about NISRA’s plans to provide a back series and listed this as a priority. NISRA kept users up to date on the timescales for the back series.
To further users’ understanding, NISRA should work with users to identify what they require to understand the drivers of revisions to NI BERD statistics and how NISRA can improve communicating uncertainty. This will also enhance transparency and trust in NI BERD statistics.
Actions taken by NISRA
NISRA held a R&D user group meeting in September 2024 and a user consultation to better understand user requirements. The user consultation report, in particular the ‘Next Steps’ section, sets out areas that NISRA will work towards with the next R&D publication. Also, in light of the feedback gathered, NISRA has updated and published a revised quality report.
NISRA is working alongside ONS to investigate producing confidence intervals for the NI BERD statistics.
OSR’s evaluation of evidence
We judge that this requirement has been met. NISRA’s user consultation helped it to identify what users require to better understand the NI BERD statistics. NISRA also has laid out its plans to improve its next publication later this year in the user consultation report.
NISRA has already acted on the findings from the user consultation by updating its quality report. Following user requests, NISRA also updated the information on the strengths and limitations of the data.
Two users expressed wanting measures of uncertainty. The survey development plan published in August 2024 set out NISRA’s plans to investigate confidence intervals to aid understanding of the uncertainty of the data.