Dear Ben, When the Office for Statistics Regulation published its review of intelligent transparency in Government last November, the UK Statistics Authority interim chair, Penny Young, wrote to Dan York-Smith highlighting the report’s findings and recommendations. The Chair’s letter included recommendations for the Number 10 data science team, and the Number 10 administrative team more […]
Dear Scott, Thank you for your letter of 24 February outlining the data quality issues affecting Public Health Scotland’s breast cancer screening statistics and Scottish Health Services Costs (or “Costs Book”) publication. Given the issues you have described, I agree to your request for the temporary suspension of accreditation for both sets of statistics. I […]
Dear Siobhan, Thank you for carrying out the helpful compliance review of the PHS Stage of Treatment statistics. I was delighted that these statistics retained the accredited official statistics status following my team’s work to develop their trustworthiness, value and quality in 2025. I particularly welcome your acknowledgement of our work to ensure the changes […]
Dear Ed, We have recently discovered data quality issues that impact two accredited official statistics releases. I therefore request a temporary suspension of their accredited official statistics status while we investigate and resolve these issues. Breast cancer screening I previously wrote to you about data quality issues with cervical cancer screening data provided by an […]
Dear Ed, Thank you for the letter of 19 February on the presentation of modelling within the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 2ABC report. Your Office is clear that public bodies must use statistics, data and wider analysis transparently and with integrity, clarity and accuracy. You are concerned that the Inquiry conveyed too great a level of certainty when referring […]
Dear Ben, Thank you for taking the time to meet with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority. We provide independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK, and investigate concerns raised with the Authority. As you know, we were contacted about the presentation of modelling […]
Dear Liz and Alex Today, we have published a review of the latest Family Spending statistics from the Living Costs and Food survey (LCF) against key elements of the Code of Practice for Statistics. We previously set out an intention to undertake further regulatory work on response issues impacting household surveys used across the statistics […]
Dear Rob, Thank you for your letter of 10 February regarding the publication of the report covering your recent review of Family Spending statistics from the Living Costs and Food (LCF) Survey. We welcome both the publication of the review and its conclusion that Family Spending in the UK can continue to be published as […]
Dear James, We have today published our response to the Office for National Statistics (ONS)’s first quarterly progress reports on its Plan for Economic Statistics and Survey Improvement and Enhancement Plan. This update represents an important step for ONS in demonstrating its progress in response to the findings of OSR’s systemic review of its economic statistics, including our interim and final report, and the recommendations of the Devereux review. The report shows encouraging early progress. OSR particularly welcomes the resumption of regular publications of producer price statistics, the restoration of response rates to the Labour Force Survey […]
Dear Ed, Thank you for your letter setting out the Office for Statistics Regulation’s (OSR) assessment of our first quarterly progress reports on the Economic Statistics Plan and the Survey Improvement and Enhancement Plan. Your suggestion that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish these quarterly reports has been helpful in creating a clear and […]