Compliance review of Abortion statistics for England and Wales

Overview

At the time of this report, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)’s abortion statistics for England and Wales are published as accredited official statistics.

The statistics report numbers and rates of abortions in England and Wales. They provide information such as method of abortion, gestation, age and area of residence, and cover trends in abortions over time. Statistics on abortions are used for many purposes, including planning and delivering services, monitoring compliance with and the application of abortion legislation, informing public debate and supporting academic research.

This review assesses whether the statistics continue to meet the standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value of the Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code), particularly given the length of time since they were last assessed and subsequent changes to legislation and data processing systems.

Why we did this review

These statistics were last assessed against the Code in 2012. Between 2017 and 2022, there were changes to abortion legislation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There have also been changes to the statistical release both to reflect these legislative changes and to update methodologies. These changes are all outlined in DHSC’s Guide to abortion statistics.

The 2023 publication was delayed due to a backlog in the abortion notification system data collection and validation. This was the result of a transition to a new data collection system in 2022 and a simultaneous rise in the number of submissions using paper forms, which take longer to process and validate than digital submissions. As well as delaying the 2023 statistics, this continues to delay the 2024 statistics whilst DHSC works through the backlog. DHSC is currently developing a new service designed to support the timely and reliable collection and validation of data on abortions, enabling timely and reliable publication of abortion statistics.

In January 2025, we investigated concerns raised with us about complications arising from abortions, which forms one part of the statistics. We concluded that while there are limitations associated with using abortion notification forms to understand complications, these are clearly explained by DHSC, and this data source also has several strengths. However, we agreed that a review of the statistics would be helpful, especially given the development work on the data submission process and the length of time since our last assessment.

Findings

The statistical commentary is comprehensive and provides a range of breakdowns of the data. These are accompanied by suitable explanations to aid interpretation, and the figures are presented in such a way that they are accessible to a range of users, including those who are visually impaired.

The data source is suitable for producing these statistics, and the limitations of the data on complications are adequately explained. There is also a range of accompanying documentation and guidance to support understanding and appropriate use of the statistics.

The methods used to produce the statistics are suitable and well explained. DHSC continues to review the methods and has taken appropriate advice from its Head of Profession for Statistics to implement changes to its approach to disclosure control for the release of the 2023 data.

The presentation of information on quality is currently disjointed and out of date in some areas. There is a need to bring quality information together into one place and present it in such a way that users can understand the data journey from collection through to publication.

Publication of the 2023 data was delayed, and the 2024 data have not yet been published as DHSC works through the backlog to process abortion notification forms. Although DHSC has provided adequate information to us about both the new system and the delays, the public explanations provided for the delays are brief and lacking in detail.

DHSC told us that that its user engagement is currently limited, largely due to resource constraints and the need to dedicate available resource to transitioning to the new data system. Once this is complete, DHSC is committed to carrying out more proactive user engagement to establish ongoing users’ needs for the statistics and how they are presented.

Our judgement

Based on the findings of our review, we conclude that the statistics on abortions for England and Wales continue to meet the standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should retain their accredited official statistics status. DHSC continues to review the methodology and update the publication, for example to reflect changes in legislation. The output is accessible and informative and is accompanied by a range of useful documentation. DHSC is also progressing its plans for implementing the new Code of Practice for Statistics and has recently published a statement of compliance with the Code of Practice and a confidentiality policy.

Based on the findings of this review, we recommend the following:

To increase transparency, DHSC should provide more comprehensive information about the delay to publication of the 2024 data, both on the statistics landing page and in the 2024 release when it is published. DHSC should provide information on any impacts of the delay, such as the completeness of the data compared to what it would normally be.
DHSC should also provide more information for users about the transition to the new data processing system alongside the 2024 release. This should include details such as what the changes are, why the transition is happening and what work has been carried out to ensure that the data from the new system will be of the same quality as, or better than, before.
DHSC should improve the presentation of the quality information to make it more accessible to users. This should include bringing all the information together into one place, updating information where necessary and providing comprehensive information about the data journey from collection to publication of the statistics.
Once the transition to the new data processing system is complete, DHSC should increase user engagement activity to gain a better understanding of users’ needs. Alongside this, DHSC should update its published information on user engagement and make it more prominent on the website, including specific plans for user engagement and the outcomes of any user engagement activity carried out.
DHSC should continue to progress its plans for implementing the new Code of Practice for Statistics.

Next steps

DHSC must publish expanded information on the delay to the 2024 statistics by the end of May 2026. It should accompany the publication of the 2024 statistics with further information about the delay and its impacts, as well as the new data processing system and improved information about quality. We expect DHSC to publish a user engagement plan by September 2026 and to commit to carrying out user engagement activity from that point forwards.

We will remain available to discuss plans with the team and will follow up on these recommendations and continue to offer support and guidance as needed.