1. Credible and rigorous regulator

How we will be a more credible and rigorous regulator

We will hold ourselves to the highest standards of quality and integrity.

• Credibility is the cornerstone of our strategy. It is earned through the clarity, consistency, and the independence of our regulatory judgements. By basing our recommendations on well-presented and fair evidence, we build trust in our team and among our stakeholders. We work in partnership to enhance our impact and credibility. Transparent communication supports our credibility.​

• Rigour is central to our approach, embodying robust analysis and a commitment to high standards. We operate in a proportionate way, so rigour does not mean addressing every possible issue, but rather prioritising what matters most, ensuring that our standards are consistently maintained and that our actions reflect our dedication to the public good.​

Our core role is to make sound, effective judgements about the TQV of statistics. Being credible and rigorous is about having robust processes to deliver these judgements consistently and communicate them clearly.

We need to implement proportionate approaches, allowing for both in-depth and lighter-touch reviews, while maintaining high standards. We are a small organisation working with limited resources. So, we will work with statistical producers to identify, of those statistics that we have not reviewed for some time, which are the highest priority. We will develop a new prioritisation tool to support this approach. And we will explore whether a greater degree of self-assessment might enhance the TQV of official statistics.

Peer review (often internal rather than external) and the use of external expertise when needed are valuable tools to test the rigour of our work and demonstrate the openness to improvement that we expect from official statistics producers. This also means we need to update and develop our internal guidance, templates and training.

We need to improve the communication of our judgements. This includes adopting clearer templates, making our reports easier to navigate, and tailoring communications to different audiences. Enhancing transparency by explaining decision-making processes, publishing follow-ups and clarifying priorities is essential, though it must be balanced with discretion in sensitive contexts.

Finally, we need to demonstrate our impact more clearly – through visible outcomes, routine publication and follow-up. This in turn will strengthen OSR’s reputation and influence. While our work is often rigorous and influential, much of its success happens behind the scenes, making it difficult to publicly demonstrate value. This lack of visibility may risk undermining credibility, even when interventions lead to meaningful improvements.

Securing change

We secure change by:

• promoting the Code of Practice for Statistics and upholding it by enforcing clear, proportionate regulatory judgements with transparent follow-up mechanisms
• developing constructive relationships with users and producers of statistics
• strengthening internal quality assurance through peer review, internal review and external challenge
• improving the accessibility and clarity of outputs to support public understanding and trust
• tailoring communications with different audiences to maximise influence and engagement

Commitments

We will:

• deliver timely, evidence-based assessments and compliance reviews against the Code of Practice
• work with producers to reduce the risk of backlog of unreviewed accredited official statistics through our refreshed approach to prioritisation
• make clear judgements, and ensure our published outputs have clear, balanced findings and requirements
• set clear timeframes within which producers should deliver requirements or report publicly on actions and progress
• develop an impact and evaluation plan