Summary
This report draws together the main findings from our casework from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 and discusses six key themes which are summarised below.
Supporting government to use statistics appropriately
The election of a new UK government has provided OSR with an opportunity to reinforce that the appropriate use of statistics is not only the responsibility of statisticians, but everyone within government.
Protecting statistical independence
Some of our casework interventions this year have sought to empower leaders in the statistical system to uphold the standards of the Code of Practice for Statistics, reinforcing the requirement that the production of statistics must be free from political pressure.
Promoting intelligent transparency
The issues highlighted through our recent casework have been key to refining our approach to intelligent transparency. Casework has also provided an important mechanism through which we can promote and illustrate this concept, showing how different areas of our regulatory activity can support and reinforce each other.
Reinforcing the quality of statistics
Our casework function continues to enable us to make recommendations for improvement and seek positive changes from statistics producers, complementing our routine, and more intensive, programme of assessments and systemic reviews.
Reflecting on our remit
We continue to take a broad view of our remit so that our casework interventions positively impact the statistical system and public debate. We have strengthened our work with partners like Full Fact and BBC Verify, recognising that ours is just one of many voices which can positively impact the use of statistics in public life.
Improving our casework service
Our median number of days to close a case in the 2024/25 period has decreased slightly to 13 days, compared with 14 days in 2023/24 and 27 days in 2022/23. We have launched a casework feedback survey to inform our commitment to continuously improve our casework service.
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