Progress against OSR recommendations
In our response to ONS’s first quarterly update, we judged that ONS provided evidence that ONS is meeting the immediate requirements set out in the interim and final reports of our systemic review. We also made three further recommendations:
Recommendation 1: To increase the usefulness of updates for users, ONS should ensure future updates are more succinct, accessible and user focused.
Recommendation 2: ONS should make a more disaggregated analysis of the costs associated with each of its major outputs available in its business planning and prioritisation processes.
Recommendation 3: In its next update, ONS should provide further information on a prioritised programme of quality reviews, recruitment and retention and legacy systems.
We judge that the ONS’s second quarterly update report provides evidence that Recommendation 3 has been met. Recommendation 1 has been partially met, and progress has been made on Recommendation 2.
To demonstrate that all three recommendations have been fully met, ONS’s next update in July 2026 should draw on outputs from its business planning process to:
- Rationalise milestones and introduce a small set of KPIs, showing delivery by topic, and linking missed milestones to impacts on quality, risk and overall delivery.
- Provide a stand-alone report without the need for cross-referencing with previous updates to understand progress.
- Set out arrangements for publishing the Survey Sample and Response Tracker and for how greater transparency will be provided on quality review findings.
- Explain how and where cost information disaggregated by output will be provided to enable more informed and effective engagement with stakeholders.