Dear Andrea,
We have completed a compliance review of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)’s abortion statistics for England and Wales against the standards of the Code of Practice for Statistics. The review considered whether these statistics continue to meet the standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value and should retain their accredited official statistics status.
Based on the findings of the review, we conclude that the statistics continue to comply with the Code and should retain their accredited official statistics designation. We welcome DHSC’s continuing work to review the methods for producing the statistics and highlight the accessibility of the publication as a key strength.
The review also identifies a small number of areas where further action is needed. These include providing more comprehensive information about the delay to publication of the 2024 data, improving the presentation of quality information, providing more information for users about the transition to the new data processing system and increasing user engagement.
I am grateful for the constructive engagement from your team throughout the review and look forward to receiving updates on progress against the recommendations.
Yours sincerely
Rob Kent-Smith
Deputy Head of the Office for Statistics Regulation
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