Introduction

Intelligent transparency

Statistics and data are the lifeblood of democratic debate, so it is vital that they are used in a way that serves the public good. In a time of high levels of misinformation and disinformation, it is essential that high-quality, official information, including statistics and data, is communicated well. Otherwise, misleading or incorrect information can easily spread.

For statistics, data and other types of analysis to serve the public good, they must be available in the first place. However, this on its own is not enough – even if the source for a figure is published, it might be hard to find, or the methods, definitions or limitations might not be explained clearly enough to support understanding and appropriate use. This is why we talk about intelligent transparency.

Intelligent transparency means proactively taking an open, clear and accessible approach to the use of data, statistics and wider analysis in the public domain. Intelligent transparency is informed by three principles: equality of access, supporting understanding and decision making and leadership.

Public bodies should follow the principles of intelligent transparency by default so that they build trust and confidence in how statistics, data and wider analysis are used and, crucially, in the policies and wider decisions based on them. Intelligent transparency also enhances the reputation of public bodies, ensures that public conversations focus on the important issues rather than a lack of transparency, and minimises the risk of misinterpretation or misuse of statistics.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) launched its intelligent transparency campaign back in 2021 and published regulatory guidance to support its implementation by statistics producers in February 2022. Since then, as described in several of our annual state of the statistical system and casework reports, intelligent transparency has continued to be a common theme in our work. We continue to intervene, both publicly and privately as necessary, to highlight problems and support improvements. We have also developed our thinking on intelligent transparency, refreshing our regulatory guidance in September 2023, and have worked with the Government Communication Service to raise awareness of intelligent transparency among government communicators.

In its 2024 report Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base, the Public Administration  and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) commended OSR for its work on intelligent transparency. The Committee recognised that our guidance has helped to unlock important evidence for Parliament, researchers and the public, but also highlighted that there is scope for further improvement. PACAC recommended that all government communications professionals be trained on intelligent transparency, and asked OSR to publish an annual report card on departments’ compliance.

Intelligent transparency in the Code

In October 2025, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) published the third edition of the Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code). The Code sets the standards that those producing official statistics (statistics produced by Crown bodies and other organisations listed within an Official Statistics Order) must meet to deliver statistics that serve the public good. But the Code is not just for official statistics. Everyone can apply or draw on the Code to support confidence in data, analysis and statistics.

A key change in the third edition of the Code is the introduction of the Standards for the Public Use of Statistics, Data and Wider Analysis, which are based on the concept of intelligent transparency. The standards set out OSR’s expectations for how statistics, data and wider analysis should be used in the public domain by public bodies:

1. Equality of access

Public bodies should make statistics, data and wider analysis used in the public domain available to everyone in a timely way – so that the public can easily access, scrutinise and verify claims and decisions made based on them

2. Supporting understanding

Public bodies should use statistics, data and wider analysis with integrity and communicate them with clarity and accuracy – so that the public can easily understand the basis for claims and decisions made

3. Decision making and leadership

Public bodies should seek and use impartial, expert advice when using statistics, data and wider analysis in the public domain – so that the public can have confidence that they have been used appropriately

These standards apply beyond the publication of official statistics, for example, in press releases, blogs, social media posts, policy documents, speeches and interviews. Data and wider analysis include management information, research and economic modelling. The three standards are accompanied by a list of practices which set out the activities and behaviours required to meet them.

Why we did this review

This review comes at an important time. Given the recent inclusion of intelligent transparency within the third edition of the Code, it is essential to have a good understanding of what current adherence with intelligent transparency looks like. This will allow OSR to target support and interventions where they are most needed and will support all public bodies to adhere to the principles of intelligent transparency and the standards of the Code in future. This review is also a first step in providing systematic insights into governments’ compliance with intelligent transparency, addressing the recommendation made by PACAC to regularly report on progress. Our next steps for this work are outlined at the end of this report.

The aims of this review were to:

• improve understanding of how well embedded the principles of intelligent transparency are within governments across the UK
• identify barriers which block progress to embedding intelligent transparency as the default approach
• identify facilitators and good practice which support intelligent transparency

How we did this review

The scope of this review was the 16 ministerial departments of the UK Government, Number 10 and the three devolved governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. A challenge for all these departments and governments is managing the balance between the priorities of governments and the impartiality that is required when working with statistics and other types of analysis. Ministerial departments and devolved governments are often working at extreme pace, which can make adhering to intelligent transparency even more challenging. Many of the issues relating to intelligent transparency that we investigate in our casework are therefore focused on them.

For these reasons, we chose to focus on ministerial departments and devolved governments in this review. However, it is important to note that we expect all public bodies to adhere to intelligent transparency and the Standards for the Public Use of Statistics, Data and Wider Analysis. The findings and recommendations set out in this report will be relevant to many organisations. The full list of departments and governments included in this review is set out in Annex A.

To gather evidence to inform this review, we engaged with stakeholders including statisticians, other analysts, communications professionals and permanent secretaries. We surveyed Heads of Profession for Statistics and Chief Statisticians, held 13 semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders, and held a roundtable with Heads of Profession for Statistics. We also undertook desk research to look at OSR’s published work on intelligent transparency and communications published by ministerial departments and devolved governments.