Introduction

Drawing on our work as the UK’s statistics regulator, this report shares our views on the performance of the statistical system and the challenges facing it, highlights areas of progress and innovation and sets out our recommendations for advancing the system.

The level of risk facing specific statistics and producers helps shape our regulatory work programme. This has meant that this year, our work has been more focused on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) than usual, and this is reflected in the balance of this report compared to previous editions. However, we continue to undertake a wide range of regulatory work across the system and use that evidence to draw together the conclusions in this report.

The UK’s statistical system includes those who collect, produce, disseminate and regulate official statistics, alongside central bodies that set its strategic direction. We want this report to support the continuing collaboration across, and evolution of, the UK statistical system to support the public good. Our Guide to the UK’s Statistical System provides more information about its key features.

This year’s report has been written at time where the UK Statistics Authority, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and our own organisation, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), are undergoing a period of scrutiny. This attention can be seen in various sources, including media coverage, parliamentary debates and stakeholder commentary. While there has been some commentary on recent ONS errors, the broader narrative has been one of overall concern in the ONS’s performance, governance and culture, and there has been a lack of confidence in ONS’s ability to deliver its core functions.

At the core of this scrutiny are the principles of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value, as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. These principles ensure that statistics are produced and used in ways that meet users’ needs, maintain public confidence and can adapt to meet new challenges. Some of the statistics produced by ONS are struggling to meet these Code principles – as evidenced by the increased number of de-accreditations. But these concerns do not affect all ONS statistics, and we have also seen important improvements in some ONS statistics. For example, we reaccredited the Crime Survey for England and Wales in July 2024.

As the UK’s National Statistical Institute, some perceive ONS as synonymous with the entire Government Statistical Service (GSS). However, the statistical landscape is much broader than ONS alone. In this context there is a risk that any issues affecting the reputation of ONS may influence public confidence in the broader statistical system. While the ONS faces specific challenges, it is our view that the broader statistical system in the UK remains robust and is acting well to meet a wide range of demands. This report highlights multiple successes across various statistical bodies in the UK. Statistics producers across the UK are working hard to maintain the quality and integrity of their outputs, improve data collection processes and strengthen engagement with stakeholders to help ensure their statistics meet the needs of various users.

The publication of the Devereux Review of the Office for National Statistics performance and culture, the UK Statistics Authority and Cabinet Office response to it, and ONS’s recent plan for its economic statistics and its household and business surveys, published in response to our review of ONS economic statistics, provide the right foundations to restore confidence in ONS. In our recent interactions with ONS, we have seen a more open and transparent assessment of the challenges it faces. We also welcome a refreshed openness to feedback through initiatives like the UK Statistics Assembly and an expansion of its advisory committees. However, we do not underestimate the challenge ahead for ONS in rebuilding quality and user confidence.

While some of the issues ONS has faced are institution-specific, others have system-wide implications. It is important that the whole statistical system learns from any lessons, and from each other’s practices, to safeguard public confidence. As statisticians across the UK refine their ways of working and prioritise resources to meet new and anticipated demands, the quality and trustworthiness of their outputs must remain uncompromised.

We have structured our views in this report in five main sections:

1. Strengthening confidence and support: This section outlines the landscape of independent reviews, the development work being undertaken within the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and our work to update the Code of Practice for Statistics.
2. Demand, resourcing and engagement: This section looks at the different demands on the UK statistical system, how statistics producers are addressing these, the challenges of balancing demand with resources and the continuing work across the statistical system on understanding and addressing statistics users’ views.
3. Maintaining and restoring quality: This section focuses on quality issues within the UK statistical system, concentrating on declining survey response rates, specific ONS economic statistics quality concerns, change programme considerations and the future role of administrative data.
4. Other system-wide issues: This section examines the system-wide topics of data sharing and linkage, artificial intelligence and UK-wide comparability.
5. Communicating statistics: This section shares our current views on embedding intelligent transparency, our flagship public campaign, as the norm, and provides examples of good communications focusing on the communication of core statistical outputs and uncertainty.