The UK Statistics Authority has today published its Annual Review of Casework report for 2020/21.
As the UK Statistics Authority’s regulatory arm, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) investigates all cases reported to the Authority by members of the public, politicians, the media and third sector organisations, as well as issues identified through internal processes, in order to stand up for statistics that serve the public good.
The Annual Review of Casework highlights that between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 we considered nearly three times the volume of issues we considered in the previous year – 323 cases, the highest number to date. There was a strong focus on the coronavirus pandemic, with related issues accounting for three quarters of our casework during 2020/21. Almost half of all casework raised related to quality, reliability and trustworthiness of statistics.
Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation and head of the Office for Statistics Regulation, said:
“Our casework function is central to our role in upholding statistics that serve the public good. This year’s report, set against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, illustrates how crucial our work is in protecting the role of statistics in public debate.”