Dear Sandra
TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF NATIONAL STATISTICS DESIGNATION: LOCAL AUTHORITY REVENUE EXPENDITURE AND FINANCING, ENGLAND: 2020 TO 2021 BUDGET
Thank you for your letter of 26 June, regarding your annual local authority revenue expenditure and financing, England: 2020 to 2021 budget statistics. Given the data inconsistencies identified by your statisticians for this year’s statistics and the associated challenges that they will have to quality assure the figures due to COVID-19, I support your decision to temporarily suspend the National Statistics designation.
I am pleased that your statisticians have engaged with key users of the statistics about their plans to publish a reduced range of statistics for this year which will include additional guidance and caveats to help ensure their appropriate interpretation.
We will continue to engage with your statisticians, via our Housing, Planning and Local Services team, and look forward to reinstating the designation once you feel assured that local authorities are once again reporting their budget information on a comparable basis.
Yours sincerely
Ed Humpherson
Director General for Regulation