National Records of Scotland publication review.

Dear Ed,

National Records of Scotland publication review

I am writing to update you on National Records of Scotland’s (NRS) plans for our statistical publications, outlined in our annual work programme published today, and the public engagement activity we are undertaking with users about these plans.

As part of the development of our first annual statistical work programme, we have undertaken a comprehensive review of our portfolio of over 30 regular official statistics publications covering population, migration, households and vital events.

Our statistics publications are delivered by a small analytical team. The review has been driven by growing pressures on analytical capacity and the need to create headroom for improvement and modernisation activities. Although NRS continues to produce a broad range of valuable statistics, it is essential that we allow capacity in the current publication portfolio to develop methods, enhance accessibility, respond to evolving user needs, and support future transformation.

Our objective is therefore not simply to reduce outputs, but to ensure that our statistical portfolio remains sustainable, impactful and capable of supporting Scotland’s future analytical needs.

In undertaking the review, we assessed our publications against a range of factors, including user need and public value, policy and operational relevance, statutory requirements, opportunities to reduce duplication, and the long-term sustainability of statistical production. We also considered whether some information could be delivered more effectively through alternative products, different publication frequencies, or by other organisations who are better placed to lead this work.

We have closely aligned this review to the principles of the Code of Practice for Statistics. In particular:

• Trustworthiness: We are seeking to demonstrate transparent and responsible stewardship of our statistical portfolio. We are communicating openly about proposed changes, inviting feedback from users on our proposals, and plan to clearly explain the outcome of our user engagement activities. Our annual statistical work programme itself is intended to improve transparency about our priorities and future plans, in line with the new requirements of the Code.
• Quality: By creating capacity and better prioritising our analytical resources, we will be better positioned to invest in improving methods, modernising production systems, strengthening quality-assurance and adopting more efficient approaches, including greater use of reproducible analytical pipelines and automation.
• Value: The review has been fundamentally focused on ensuring that our outputs continue to meet user needs and deliver public value. We are seeking to prioritise those statistics that provide the greatest benefit to users while considering how lower value activities might be redesigned, streamlined or discontinued. This reflects our ambition to focus our resources where they can have the greatest impact.

User engagement has been central to our approach. In developing the review proposals, we have already engaged with analytical teams across NRS, Scottish Government analysts and policy professionals, Public Health Scotland, the Office for National Statistics, and other stakeholders. Their feedback helped shape our proposals and identify areas where resources could be redirected towards future development and innovation.

We are now publicly inviting feedback from users on our proposed changes. In our statistical work programme, we have set out the rationale for the proposals and are inviting feedback from users over a six-week period. We will actively encourage responses from the broad range of organisations and individuals who use our statistics and will provide clear routes for users to share their views.

Following public engagement, we will publish a summary of the feedback received and set out our final decisions, including any changes made as a result of stakeholder and user input. Looking ahead, we intend to establish an annual cycle of reviewing our statistical portfolio and updating our work programme, supported by ongoing user engagement, to ensure our outputs continue to evolve in line with user needs and provide maximum public value.

We will continue to keep OSR informed as this work progresses.

Yours sincerely,

Delphine Robineau

Director of Statistics, Data services and Census

Head of Profession for Statistics

National Records of Scotland