The organisations and resources on this page can help you better understand, use, communicate and challenge statistics and evidence. They include regulators, fact-checking organisations, parliamentary research services and professional guidance bodies whose work complements the principles of the Code of Practice for Statistics.
The Office for Statistics Regulation’s (OSR) role is to promote and safeguard the use of statistics in public debate. We use our independent voice to stand up for statistics and to represent the public, reporting publicly where we have concerns and highlighting good practice. Ahead of the pre-election period, OSR’s expectations of organisations remain the […]
Summary There are a range of statistics to help people understand health and the performance of the National Health Service (NHS) in Wales. The Welsh Government publishes statistics relating to a variety of health related topics. These include NHS performance and waiting times, activity across different health care settings, staffing, finance, and mental health. More […]
Summary There are many statistics which can help people understand health and the performance of the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland. Public Health Scotland (PHS) publishes a wide range of statistics, including on NHS performance, infectious disease surveillance and other public health topics. PHS has an area of its website which directs users to […]
Summary Scotland Official statistics on education are primarily produced by Scottish Government and by the Scottish Funding Council. Education Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) conduct reviews of schools and educational institutions to assess their performance and produce school inspection reports. Scotland publishes statistics on school pupil attendance and absence and school exclusion. […]
Summary Scotland The Scottish Government produces Early Learning and Childcare Statistics on the funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) entitlement. It also publishes the Scottish Household Survey – Childcare Results, which is an annual survey of households in Scotland that reports use of different types of childcare, household satisfaction with funded ELC and affordability perceptions […]
Summary There are two main sources of official statistics for migration: The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Long-term international migration statistics estimate the number of people entering and leaving the UK for 12 months or more. These statistics are published every six months with a five-month lag. They coincide with the publication of the Home Office’s […]
Summary On 17 September 2023, the Welsh Government introduced a default 20mph speed limit on restricted roads (usually residential or busy pedestrian streets with streetlights). A policy evaluation has been commissioned by the Welsh Government to assess the impact of the 20mph policy. In the interim, Transport for Wales (TfW) is responsible for monitoring the […]
Sewerage pollution incidents Statement: “There were 35.8 incidents per 10,000km of sewer in Scotland versus 35.4 incidents per 10,000km of sewer in England and Wales reported in 2023-24.” [24 July letter] OSR view While the 24 July letter did not provide a source for this statistic, we were able to identify how the figures for […]
Over the past week there has been considerable discussion in the media about rates of crime and the reliability of crime data in England and Wales. Given the societal importance of crime, it is vital that crime statistics are used in an accurate and transparent way in public debate. In line with our role to […]
