The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) will conduct a review of the approach taken to developing statistical models designed for awarding 2020 exam results. Our review will consider the extent to which qualifications’ regulators across the UK developed their models in line with the principles set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. The review will […]
Due to COVID-19, exams in schools, colleges and other settings across the UK have been cancelled. This year, grades awarded are based on teacher estimated grades submitted via the awarding organisations to the qualifications’ regulators. Teachers also provided rank orders for each candidate from their centre within the defined bands. These estimated grades are known […]
There are multiple sources of information on deaths related to COVID-19 in the public domain. There are valid reasons for this range of figures which reflect the variety of uses of these data and the various methods and assumptions underlying them. However, publication of multiple sources with different counts has the potential to cause confusion […]
Concerns have been raised with us about Scottish Government’s quantified comparisons of the prevalence of COVID-19 in Scotland and England. The data sources used by Scottish Government in making these comparisons are unclear and therefore we do not yet have evidence to support the validity of these comparisons. We continue to liaise with Scottish Government […]
Today we have published our Rapid Review of NHS Test and Trace statistics (England). The pace at which the NHS Test and Trace Programme has been developed has been unprecedented. It is clear that providing these timely statistics is the result of a huge amount of work by individuals across a range of teams and […]
Following announcement of the first local area lockdown – where it has been widely quoted that Leicester accounted for 10 per cent of all positive cases in the country over the last week – there has been an even greater interest in the local area data on COVID-19 cases and tests. To meet this immediate […]
The impact of COVID-19 on those in care settings – care home residents and recipients of domiciliary care – has received significant media attention. There is high demand for trustworthy, quality data and statistics to understand the large number of deaths in the care sector during the period of the pandemic. Statistics on the care […]
This guidance note summarises our position and expectations on the use of management information by government and other official bodies During times of rapid change there is an increased need for timely and detailed data. It is important that ministers have up-to-date information to inform government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. This can include such […]
Information available on COVID-19 cases and deaths has been developed rapidly in a constantly shifting environment. The work being done by analysts to get this information into the public domain is commendable. There will always be a desire for improvements to the timeliness and completeness of data, but this should not undermine the huge efforts […]
We welcome the work of analysts across a range of organisations in providing the public with information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pace at which these organisations have set up new data collection and dissemination processes has been unprecedented and enabled timely updates on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. We warmly congratulate […]