Dear Ed, Alternative Release Time for Economic Statistics The ONS’s initial move to earlier releases of market-sensitive economic statistics was at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic when holding in-person secure media briefings became impossible. We chose 0700 because other market-sensitive announcements, notably company results, are usually made at this time. Although forced by necessity, […]
Dear Mr Humpherson, I am writing because I am concerned about the misuse of Ofsted statistics by the Department for Education and by the Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan, both in a press release and on social media. In a press release titled “First step towards introducing the Advanced British Standard” and in […]
Dear Daniel Comparisons of the proportion of good and outstanding schools over time Thank you for your letter on 18 April regarding the comparison of the proportion of good and outstanding schools over time by the Department for Education (DfE). You raised several points about the comparison between 2023 and 2010, and whether this should […]
We have recently completed a short review of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Reported road casualties in Great Britain statistics. This review was requested by DfT specifically to examine new adjusted estimates of injury severity which have been developed to provide comparative data over time and across police forces. Since 2018, DfT has published these […]
Dear Jane Trade Union Membership statistics 2023 Thank you for your letter outlining your intention to publish the Trade Union Membership Statistics Bulletin for 2023 as official statistics in development. Given the use of ONS’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) data within the Trade Union Membership statistics, and current quality issues with the LFS data resulting in ONS’s […]
Dear Ed, I am writing to inform you of our intention to publish the Trade Union Membership Statistics Bulletin for 2023 as official statistics in development. The publication predominantly produces statistics extracted from Labour Force Survey (LFS) microdata from the 4th calendar quarter of each year. The bulletin looks at membership levels and proportions among […]
Dear Stephanie Suspension of accredited official statistics status from Labour Force Survey-based estimates I write to acknowledge your actions taken in response to ONS’s decision to suspend the accredited official statistics status (called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007) from its LFS-based estimates, as these estimates are also used within your […]
Dear Victoria Compliance review of statistics in development from the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study, England and Scotland Thank you very much for inviting us to independently review the trustworthiness, quality and value of the statistics in development from the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study (Winter CIS). The Winter CIS was jointly developed by the […]
Dear James Compliance review of statistics in development from the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study, England and Scotland Thank you very much for inviting us to independently review the trustworthiness, quality and value of the statistics in development from the Winter Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Study (Winter CIS). Information about coronavirus continues to have high interest […]
Dear Jon, Review of the quality of police recorded crime statistics for England and Wales Today we published our review of the quality of police recorded crime statistics for England and Wales, produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). I would like to thank your team for its positive engagement throughout the review and […]