Kate Davies to Rob Kent-Smith: Compliance review of the Statistical Business Register

Published:

Sent from: Office for National Statistics

Sent to: Office for Statistics Regulation

Dear Rob,

Compliance review of the Statistical Business Register

Thank you for your letter and for the constructive way in which colleagues at the Office for Statistics Regulation have undertaken the compliance review of the Statistical Business Register. I welcome the recognition of the progress made through the recent reset, including stronger governance, clearer collaboration between delivery partners and a more credible phased delivery approach.

The SBR remains central to improving the quality, resilience and sustainability of business survey operations and the economic statistics they support. To ensure strong ongoing senior sponsorship, in addition to the Statistical Business Register work being an agreed strategic priority in the ONS’s business plan, James Benford will act as an Executive Sponsor for the programme to ensure the right support is in place for it. 

 We recognise, however, that the most significant delivery challenges remain ahead and that success now depends on maintaining delivery confidence, strengthening assurance and demonstrating measurable progress through each transition state.

We will address the recommendations by: defining clear quality criteria and success measures for each transition state; strengthening the evidence required to support transition decisions; improving reporting on delivery confidence, risks and dependencies; clarifying business-side operational support arrangements; and ensuring links with Digital Services, the Business Index, survey transformation and wider business planning are actively managed through the appropriate governance routes.

This work is already being taken forward through the transition-state delivery approach. Transition State 1 will move search and view functionality to the SBR and support the transition of most read-only IDBR users onto the new platform. Subsequent transition states will progressively expand operational use, including reference list survey sampling, before moving towards full adoption of the SBR and phase-out of the legacy Inter-Departmental Business Register.

We will report publicly on progress against the recommendations through the Surveys and Economic Statistics Improvement Plan reporting cycle, placing SBR progress in the wider context of our work to strengthen survey quality, reduce reliance on legacy systems and improve confidence in the delivery of economic statistics.

Thank you again for your constructive engagement throughout the review. We look forward to continuing to work with OSR as we implement the recommendations.

I am grateful to you, Rishi Vaidya and Nisha Bunting for the constructive engagement throughout the review, and we look forward to continuing to work with OSR as we implement the recommendations.

Yours sincerely, Kate Davies

Rob Kent-Smith to Kate Davies: Compliance review of the Statistical Business Register