Today the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has published its Annual Review of Casework 2023/24.
This report highlights the importance of ‘intelligent transparency’, and its role in strengthening public trust in numbers. Intelligent transparency involves taking an open, clear, and accessible approach to the publication of data and statistics used in societal debate.
In particular, the report:
- outlines an increase in the number of cases related to the public and the media struggling to access the data underlying public statements;
- focuses on how OSR has secured greater impact with its interventions by working in partnership with other organisations, as well as its approach to responding to concerns with the transparency of data that are not labelled as official statistics; and
- includes OSR’s role and impact in promoting and safeguarding official statistics during the recent election campaign, demonstrating how upholding the principles of intelligent transparency were crucial to our ability to make effective interventions (with the UK’s General Election taking place after the 2023/24 casework period).
In keeping with last year, this report also sets out OSR’s plans for the coming year to continually improve the casework service we provide to support the quality, comprehensiveness, and transparency of official statistics.
Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation commented:
“This report shows the power of our principles of intelligent transparency. Not only do they support public understanding of the implementation of major Government policies, like addressing backlogs in the asylum system or changes in transport policy. But they also proved an invaluable framework to support OSR’s interventions on the clear use of data by the parties campaigning in the UK’s General Election.”
Notes to editors
- The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK, and aim to enhance public confidence in the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics produced by government.
- See more information specifically on our casework and current issues log. Our interventions policy provides more details on our role in making public interventions on the use of statistics. Here are the previous 2022/23 casework themes.
- OSR regulate statistics by setting the standards official statistics must meet in the Code of Practice for Statistics. We ensure that producers of official statistics uphold these standards by conducting assessments against the Code. Those which meet the standards are given Accredited Official Statistics status, indicating that they meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and value. We also report publicly on systemwide issues and on the way that statistics are being used, celebrating when the standards are upheld and challenging publicly when they are not. OSR is independent from government Ministers, and separate from producers of statistics, including the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
- OSR’s Director General, Ed Humpherson, reports directly to the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority Board, Sir Robert Chote. The Director General, and OSR, have wide discretion in highlighting good practice and reporting concerns with the production and use of statistics publicly. OSR’s work is overseen by the Board’s regulation committee (made up of non-executive directors, and with no statistical producer in attendance). OSR’s budget is proposed by the Board’s regulation committee and endorsed by the Board.
For more information about our casework or regulatory work programme, please contact regulation@statistics.gov.uk T: (0)207 592 8659