In many cases, data on hospital capacity and occupancy are not easy to find or interpret. To help users, we’ve examined a range of outputs to see if we can answer some straightforward questions that we have been asked about. We’ve summarised the position for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and provided some links to more published data. Why are data on NHS hospital capacity and […]
Today we have published our review ‘The public good of statistics; what we know so far’. This review has been published as part of our Research Programme launched in 2019, to better understand the public good of statistics. Mary Cowan, who is a Research Specialist working on the programme, outlined how the review will help […]
Following on from our blog published earlier this year on the trouble with measuring poverty, we are beginning our review on income-based poverty statistics in the UK. We’ve been working in this space for a while, from regulatory reviews of benefit and deprivation statistics to casework on the use of poverty statistics in the public […]
OSR has today published a package of reviews concerning UK benefit statistics. This includes a full assessment of Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) benefit statistics for Great Britain and a compliance check of the Department for Communities’ (DfC) benefits statistics summary for Northern Ireland. There has been heightened interest in benefit statistics during the COVID-19 […]
The UK Statistics Authority’s vision is simple: Statistics should serve the public good. By championing high standards, we seek to uphold public confidence in statistics that serve the public good. As part of governments’ communications on the pandemic there have been high profile public briefings, media interviews and statements from each of the four governments […]
Since the launch of our research programme, we have been finding out exactly what problems currently exist around understanding the public good of statistics, such as: difficulties defining and measuring the public good knowing little about how the public actually use statistics in their daily lives not knowing the best way to communicate statistics to […]
The UK Statistics Authority has today published its Annual Review of Casework. Making public statements about the dissemination and use of statistics has been an important part of the Authority’s work since it began. In this work, the Authority is guided by its statutory objective to promote and safeguard official statistics. The report covers April 2019 […]
OSR has today published a full assessment of ONS’s business demography statistics. This report suggests that a range of improvements is needed for these statistics to fully meet National Statistics standards. We will formally review whether the statistics merit their continued designation as National Statistics at two key points. First, upon publication of the next […]
Today, we are proud to announce the winners of the first ever Voluntary Application of the Code Award. This new and prestigious Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) award is given in partnership with the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) and our media partner Civil Service World. This rewards excellence in the voluntary application of the ‘pillars’ […]
The Census is one of the most important sources of official statistics, informing decisions about almost every aspect of life within the UK. The three Census offices – the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the National Records of Scotland (NRS) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) – continue to prepare to deliver […]