Dear Philip,
We have independently reviewed the actions that NISRA statisticians within Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch (ASRB) in the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) have taken to address the two requirements outlined in our assessment report. On behalf of the Board of the UK Statistics Authority, I am pleased to confirm that they comply with the standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled as accredited official statistics. The detail supporting our judgement is included in the annex to this letter.
Having robust statistics on public transport enables sounds evidence-based decision making, such as that around the development and review of policies, and supports individuals and organisations to understand the monitoring of the DfI’s Public Service Agreement with Translink.
We welcome the steps that ASRB has taken to improve the value of these statistics for users. The publication of an action plan to meet the assessment requirements increases transparency, 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 the team for its open and positive engagement throughout our assessment and for their ongoing commitment to improving these statistics. We particularly welcome the swift actions of the team to meet the requirements in such a short timescale.
Yours sincerely,
Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR
Review of actions undertaken in response to Assessment report 398: Public Transport Statistics, Northern Ireland produced by the Department for Infrastructure:
Requirement 1: To enable users to more easily access the public transport statistics produced by DfI from its website, the Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch (ASRB) team in DfI should review and publish a plan to improve the access and navigation to these statistics. ASRB should work with other statistical producer teams in DfI and colleagues in NISRA to also agree and set out in this plan how it will improve the ease of access to the range of statistics on the topic of transport in NI and provide a clearer way for users to navigate to related statistical releases. ASRB should involve users in any testing of planned improvements.
Actions taken by DfI: ASRB has published an action plan which includes eight specific actions that the team is undertaking to support improvements to the accessibility and navigation of the statistics on the DfI website, ahead of its next publication in September 2025.
These include the enhanced use of the html icon to identify historical and future reports; streamlining the main page with a focus on current key reports; text added to more fully explain what is included in the reports; enhanced navigation to related statistical releases; and the involvement of users and stakeholders in testing of the planned improvements, and again post-launch.
OSR’s evaluation of evidence: We judge that this requirement is met. ASRB published an action plan for addressing the assessment requirements on 9 July.
The action plan sets out a range of improvements that will enhance the accessibility and navigation of the statistics on the DfI web pages. The actions include engagement with a variety of DfI and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) teams to inform the developments and plans to evaluate the changes with users.
The plan is explicit about how each of the specific listed actions serves to either improve the access or navigation for these and other related statistics and is accessible to a public audience.
Requirement 2: To enhance the value of the public transport statistics, the ASRB team in DfI should consider how it could add more relevant context to the statistical report to aid interpretation of the statistics in a broader policy environment, including drawing on the areas identified by this assessment.
Actions taken by DfI: ASRB has provided us with a draft action plan which includes nine specific actions that the team is undertaking to add relevant context to the statistical report to aid interpretation the statistics, ahead of its next publication in September.
These include adding new visual insights on the COVID-19 pandemic, and relevant context to the statistical report to aid interpretation of the statistics in relation to current climate, transport policy and operations environments. ASRB has also provided a draft mock-up of potential changes by adapting last year’s publication. ASRB also intends to publish new and historical rolling stock data.
ASRB told us that it will also seek user feedback on the planned enhancements to insight, narrative, and context as part of its planned user engagement activities in response to addressing Requirement 1 on accessibility and navigation.
OSR’s evaluation of evidence: We judge that this requirement will be met when ASRB next publishes in September.
The planned actions and draft mock-up shared with OSR based on last year’s publication indicate that ASRB has considered how it can significantly enhance the broader context and narrative provided by these statistics for users on a range of themes. These include themes identified by the assessment and DfI’s draft Transport Strategy. ASRB’s plans to include new and historical rolling stock data from September will further enhance the value of these statistics for users.
ASRB plans to seek user feedback on the planned enhancements, which will allow it to further develop the insight it provides in future.
Related Links:
Ed Humpherson to Philip Wales: Assessment of Public Transport Statistics Northern Ireland