Introduction
This report provides an update of progress made by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), OSR’s evaluation of the actions that ONS has taken and a statement of actions remaining against each of our recommendations outlined in our Review of Migration Statistics.
Summary of our findings
ONS has made excellent progress with the transformation of international migration statistics and in responding to OSR’s recommendations. There were thirteen recommendations set out in our report last year. This report closes nine of these recommendations and recognises the ambitious and innovative work that ONS is progressing.
The remaining four recommendations focus on:
- Plans for the ongoing review of data sources.
- Developing and publishing measures of uncertainty
- Publishing long-term plans for international migration statistics.
- Publishing a population and migration transformation road map.
Whilst these gaps are still present, we recognise the significant improvements made to the statistics since we published our report. ONS has taken a much more proactive approach to user engagement, seeking out the views of a wide range of users from a variety of settings and using the insights gained from this engagement to prioritise and direct aspects of the transformation.
ONS has improved the clarity and coherence of communication around the migration transformation and the November 2023 suite of publications is an excellent demonstration of this. The material is tailored to meet the needs of expert and less technical users alike and will support public confidence in the use of these statistics.