Dear Stephanie 

Suspension of the accredited official statistics status for the estimates for Wales produced from the Annual Population Survey  

Thank you for your letter setting out your most recent decision following the suspension of the accredited official statistics status for labour market statistics from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), on which the Annual Population Survey (APS) estimates are based. 

We agree to your request to temporarily remove the accredited official statistics status from the following APS-based outputs: 

• Levels of highest qualification held by working age adults  

As you explain in your letter, this approach is in line with the agreement in place for other outputs based on the APS and will ensure a clear and coherent approach for users of all APS estimates. 

We welcome your plans to ensure you are transparent with users on how reliable the APS estimates are and that you will continue to provide appropriate advice, suppress disclosive data when necessary and highlight caveats in your publications for users of APS data. 

Our Labour Market and Welfare domain team will continue to engage with your team on this matter. 

Yours sincerely  

Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR