Assessment of statistics on higher education, further education, apprenticeships and adult community learning in Wales

Overview

At the time of this report, the six Medr sets of statistics are published as official statistics. Four of these were previously published as accredited official statistics:

Students in higher education
Welsh language in higher education
Further education, work-based learning and community learning
Learner outcome measures for apprenticeships and adult community learning

However, following the change in producer organisation, and because Medr was a new official statistics producer, we agreed to temporarily suspend the accreditation of the statistics.

The remaining two sets of statistics are being assessed for the first time:

Consistent performance measures for post-16 learning: Achievement
Apprenticeships learning programmes started

The statistics cover participation, outcomes and learner characteristics across Wales’s tertiary education system, including further education, apprenticeships, community and work-based learning, and higher education. They support planning, funding decisions and scrutiny across government, learning providers and the wider education and skills system.

This report presents the findings of our assessment. It evaluates whether Medr’s statistics meet the standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value of the Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code) required for accreditation.

Why we did this review

Medr, also known as the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research for Wales, was established in August 2024. It inherited responsibility for producing a range of official statistics previously produced by the Welsh Government, including four accredited official statistics.

In line with our accredited official statistics policy, when accredited official statistics are transferred to a new producer body, we carry out a review of compliance with the Code confirm that the appropriate arrangements are in place. Following the change in producer organisation, and because Medr was a new official statistics producer, we agreed to temporarily suspend the accreditation of the statistics.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) previously assessed the four accredited official statistics in 2010. Significant changes have occurred since then, particularly the introduction of Jisc’s Data Futures programme, which has transformed the collection, processing and analysis of student data in the higher education sector of the UK. Given the transfer of responsibility for these statistics to Medr, the time since the previous assessment, and the importance of these statistics for decision-making across the tertiary education system in Wales, we prioritised the statistics for assessment.

Medr also requested that we assess two additional sets of statistics on post-16 learning achievement and apprenticeships learning programmes started, which have not previously been assessed. These statistics are also included as part of this assessment.

This assessment also revisits earlier findings on public value from our 2020 systemic review of statistics on post-16 education and skills.

Highlighted findings

Medr has established a strong foundation as a new official statistics producer. It has drawn on continuity of knowledge and experience from former Welsh Government and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) staff and quickly put new processes in place to allow it to collect data and produce statistics.

Medr has published some but not all the organisational policy documents and statements that are required by the Code’s Standards for Official Statistics. To demonstrate transparency about its approach to collecting data and producing and developing statistics, Medr should publish all policies and statements.

Medr engages collaboratively with users within and outside Medr. The users we spoke to were consistently positive about their relationship with the Medr statistics teams and Medr’s quick response to their requests for further breakdowns of data. This highlights how Medr is putting users at the centre of decision-making and maintaining a dialogue with users, which ensures that the statistics continue to be relevant.

The Medr statistics teams have strong, constructive relationships with all data providers, and quality assurance arrangements are robust and well established. We heard that Medr is supportive, responds quickly to queries and has helped data providers improve the quality of their data, particularly for the data on Welsh language in higher education and community learning.

The published information about quality and methods in the statistical bulletins and quality reports is clear, and prominent caveats help users interpret the statistics. However, there are gaps in the quality information for all three main data sources, particularly in relation to quality assurance arrangements.

The quality of the statistics on Welsh language in higher education has improved as the Data Futures collection has become more established. Despite assurances from Medr about data quality, quality issues remain for data on students’ Welsh speaking ability, and an expert user raised concerns about the reliability of the statistics. Therefore, we consider it is too early to judge whether these statistics meet the quality standards of the Code. Medr should continue to work with higher education providers to improve data quality.

Our judgement

The statistics are generally produced to high standards, and users told us that they meet their needs.

We have identified several requirements that Medr must address before all six sets of statistics can become accredited official statistics. These requirements are set out in full in the following section. In summary, Medr is required to:

Publish all policies and statements required by Code of Practice for Statistics’ Standards for Official Statistics. (Requirement 1)
Work with higher education providers to continue to improve the quality of Welsh-language data. (Requirement 2)
Expand quality information to cover data quality and quality assurance arrangements for all three main data sources. (Requirements 3, 4 and 5)
Publish information about how it combines gender identity data from the Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR) and sex data from the post-16 data collection. (Requirement 6)
Prioritise developing the Medr website to ensure that users can access all previous releases of the statistics. (Requirement 7)

Next steps

We expect Medr to meet these requirements by March 2027 and regularly update us on its progress.