Economy
Economic statistics are central to understanding and managing the economy, at both national and regional levels. The Office of Statistics Regulationâs economy domain seeks to support statistics producers in maintaining confidence in statistics relating to public funding and spending for the whole UK and for devolved nations and regions.
The UK economy is facing some tough challenges ahead, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and among our priorities for 2020/21 are providing, where appropriate, endorsements (but not NS designation) of any completely new statistics that are produced in response to the COVID-19 outbreak In addition our priorities are to focus on productivity, regional and sub-regional economies; and public funding and spending. Quality and of value statistics in this area will prove vital in the months and year to come.
One of the UK Governmentâs priorities is levelling up the opportunities for the nations and regions, and the range and quality of economic statistics at regional and sub-regional levels is pivotal in meeting this priority.
Contact Office for Statistics Regulation Economy Regulators Chris Davies, Ben Bohane and Ewan McLure for more information.
Current issues in this domain
Early in 2013 the UK Statistics Authority removed the National Statistics designation of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) because the methods used to produce the RPI were not consistent with internationally recognised best practices and because ONS had decided to freeze the methods used to produce the RPI. For a mix of reasons, including considerable evidence of ongoing needs of users to continue using RPI, carried on publishing RPI statistics as legacy statistics.
In 2013, ONS introduced a Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiersâ housing costs (CPIH) which ONS describe as its most comprehensive measure of consumer price inflation. After introducing CPIH as its preferred inflation index in 2017, ONS encouraged users to adopt alternative indices to the RPI, but many years on RPI remains widely used. RPI is still used to make changes to tax allowances, wages, state benefits, pensions, contracts, rail fare increases, student loan repayments and many other payments. OSR, alongside for example the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, discourages âindex-shoppingâ where users, including the UK Government, favour the use of one price index over another, by exploiting the differences in the indices, without a strong rationale for the choices made.
OSR is clear that one of ONSâs key roles is to support all users to further understand the characteristics and behaviour of CPIH and continue to build up the credibility of CPIH. As ONSâs preferred inflation index, users should be confident to use CPIH as a comprehensive measure of movement in consumer prices in the UK economy.
OSR has supported ONS in its setting out of use-cases for each of three indices (some refer to this as a âthree-family approachâ). We regard this as presenting a clear and coherent picture about how each inflation index meets the range of user needs and a guide to choosing an appropriate index to meeting their needs. These use-cases are:
- A comprehensive measure of inflation, based on movements in the general price levels in the economy: CPIH
- A set of measures to reflect the change in costs as experienced by households: the Household Costs Indices (HCIs)
- A legacy measure that is required to meet existing user needs: the RPI
OSR has encouraged ONS to keep its narrative about the use-cases current. ONS and HM Treasury are jointly running a consultation on proposals to bring the methods of CPIH into the RPI and when such changes should be introduced. The outcomes of this consultation could affect the current three-family use-cases. ONS should reflect on how any changes in bringing the methods of the CPIH into the RPI affect the descriptions of the distinct uses of each inflation index. We encourage ONS to consider how the descriptions of the use-cases can assist in promoting the appropriate adoption of CPIH as the preferred comprehensive measure of inflation.
Throughout the changes ONS are consulting on, OSR has expressed the expectation that ONS continues to focus attention on user engagement, and work closely and positively with interested users.
Planned Work
Project | Geography | Project Type | Timescale |
---|---|---|---|
Regional GDP estimates (Office for National Statistics) | United Kingdom | Assessment | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Measuring Price Inflation Using Alternative Data Sources (Office for National Statistics) | United Kingdom | Assessment | Not yet started |
Distribution of Personal Wealth statistics (HM Revenue and Customs) | United Kingdom | Compliance Check | Not yet started |
The Development of Price Deflation Techniques across the National Accounts (Office for National Statistics) | United Kingdom | Compliance Check | Not yet started |
Review of Developments in ONS's Economic Statistics following the Bean Review | United Kingdom | Systemic Review | Not yet started |
Review of ONS's Arrangements for Sector Classifications | United Kingdom | Systemic Review | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Country and Regional Public Sector Finance statistics (Office for National Statistics, HM Treasury) | United Kingdom | Assessment: Phase 2 | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Correspondence
Ed Humpherson to Darren Morgan: OSR Assessment of ONS GDP, UK regions and countries statistics â Interim Findings
30 January 2023
Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation to Darren Morgan, Office for National Statistics
Ed Humpherson to Rachel Skentelbery: Alternative Release Time for Public Sector Classification Guide and Forward Work Plan
19 October 2022
Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation to Rachel Skentelbery, Office for National Statistics
Rachel Skentelbery to Ed Humpherson: Alternative Release Time for Public Sector Classification Guide and Forward Work Plan
19 October 2022
Rachel Skentelbery, Office for National Statistics to Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation
Ed Humpherson to Rachel Skentelbery: Alternative release time for ONSâs Impact of increased cost of living on adults across Great Britain: June to September 2022 and Analysis of lowest cost grocery items: UK
6 October 2022
Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation to Rachel Skentelbery, Office for National Statistics
Rachel Skentelbery to Ed Humpherson: Alternative release time for ONSâs Impact of increased cost of living on adults across Great Britain: June to September 2022 and Analysis of lowest cost grocery items: UK
4 October 2022
Rachel Skentelbery, Office for National Statistics to Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation
Publications
Assessment of Country and Regional Public Sector Finance Statistics
6 May 2022
Published in: Assessment Report
Assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics: Land Transaction Tax and Landfill Disposals Tax statistics
17 February 2022
Published in: Assessment Report
Assessment Report: UK Productivity statistics
17 May 2021
Published in: Assessment Report
Strengthening the quality of HMRCâs official statistics
30 April 2020
Published in: Systemic/Monitoring Reviews
OSR Review of approaches to addressing weaknesses in the RPI
6 March 2020
Published in: Guidance
The Public Value of Devolved Public Finance Statistics
24 May 2019
Published in: Systemic/Monitoring Reviews
Statistics on Government Spending: Country and Regional Analysis
24 May 2019
Published in: Assessment Report
DCMS Sectors Economic Estimates
6 December 2018
Published in: Assessment Report
Improving Statistics on City Regions â our evaluation of the impacts
10 July 2018
Published in: Systemic/Monitoring Reviews
Statistics on Regional Gross Value Added: Phase 2
7 June 2018
Published in: Assessment Report