Regulation blog

Ed Humpherson, the Director General for Regulation, team members at the Office for Statistics Regulation and other ad-hoc guest authors present think pieces on how the different areas of the statistical system can affect and benefit the public.

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  • How can official statistics better serve the public good?

    15 September 2020

    In a recent seminar we asked members of the Government Statistical Service for three words they would use to describe Government Statistics. Among the top words we got back were…

  • Breaking boundaries – giving non-official data a stamp of approval 

    11 September 2020

    We introduced a scheme in 2018 alongside the publication of the Code of Practice that we call ‘voluntary application’. It is where an organisation releasing non-official data elects to hold themselves to the three pillars of the…

  • “Wouldn’t it be cool if…

    21 August 2020

    On paper, linking data sets might sound simple but, in practice, it is often difficult. This is why I’m so excited about the recent work we’ve seen from the Ministry…

  • Thinking about quality when producing statistics

    13 August 2020

    "Quality means doing it right when no one is looking". Our recent review of HMRC statistics highlights the importance of quality in helping to ensure public trust in official statistics.

  • Data for Policy: Junk-Food Diet or Technological Frontier?

    7 August 2020

    Data and policy are a powerful mix, offering huge benefits to society in terms of defining, understanding and solving problems. But amidst this wave of techno-optimism, there is caution.

  • The challenges of counting COVID deaths

    5 August 2020

    During the coronavirus pandemic a key question has been: How many people have died because of COVID-19? This seemingly straightforward question is surprisingly difficult to answer.

  • Getting the data to support decisions on adult social care

    31 July 2020

    Today, we have made our first step towards making improvements to accessibility by releasing a new interactive tool where users can easily explore the landscape of adult social care data in one…

  • Rising to the challenge

    29 July 2020

    One thing that has stood out in the Coronavirus pandemic is how quickly the Government Statistical System (GSS) has responded to the need for data during this time.

  • The trouble with measuring poverty

    27 July 2020

    What does it mean to be in poverty? An insight into what data is available to measure poverty and the work being done to improve the future evidence base on…

  • Think of the children

    23 July 2020

    Whilst statistically those medically hardest hit by COVID-19 are the older generations, children and young people are having to come to terms with significant, immediate and possibly long term changes to their…

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