The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK, and aim to enhance public confidence in the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics produced by government.
We are the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, and are independent from government Ministers, and separate from producers of statistics, including the Office for National Statistics (ONS). See more about our governance.
We do this by setting the standards official statistics must meet in the Code of Practice for Statistics. We ensure that producers of official statistics uphold these standards by conducting assessments against the Code. Those which meet the standards are given National Statistics status, indicating that they meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and value. We also report publicly on system-wide issues and on the way that statistics are being used, celebrating when the standards are upheld and challenging publicly when they are not.
Statistics should be produced in a trustworthy way, be of high quality, and provide value by answering people’s questions: providing accountability, helping people make choices and informing policy. Our vision is simple. Statistics should serve the public good.
Our 5-year plan sets out our vision and priorities for 2020-2025 and how we will contribute to fostering the Authority’s ambitions for the statistics system. Our annual business plan shares our focus for the current year.
Our Work
Our main regulatory tools are assessments, systemic reviews, compliance check and casework. Our work ensures that practices outlined in the Code of Practice to ensure that statistics serve the public, in line with the pillars of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value.
See more about our regulatory work, including the rolling work programme.
Voluntary Application is where an organisation commits to the three ‘pillars’ of the Code: Trustworthiness, Quality and Value, in how it produces, and releases information not classified as official statistics. Voluntary Application is available for organisations outside Government, and also for Government organisations publishing other types of information like research and open data.
We present an annual award for Statistical Excellence in applying the pillars of the Code: Trustworthiness, Quality and Value.
You can find more information about our Award for Statistical Excellence in Trustworthiness, Quality and Value and Voluntary Application of the Code on the Code of Practice website.
Our Insight function has strategic oversight of how OSR uses intelligence and data to deliver on its vision. A key challenge for OSR is drawing together the findings and learning from all our different outputs and engagements, finding the common themes, identifying emerging issues, and filtering the priorities. The purpose of our Insight function is to design and deliver improvements in how OSR uses, analyses, and communicates information and findings, both internally and externally.
We aim to ensure that we are focusing our energies on the right issues, that relevant audiences are aware of our findings, and that statistics producers are responding to them.
Our research programme will gather empirical research, undertake research projects, and collaborate with others who share our vision of statistics that serve the public good. Through the findings we uncover, we want to lead producers of statistics to develop a much better understanding of how their statistics can serve the maximum public good, so they can focus on what really matters.
Statistics serve very important functions; They support key policy decisions, but they also support the decisions made by society, providing crucial information for businesses, charities, community groups, and trade unions. They also inform individual citizens about the world they are living in, aiding decision-making about education, health, the economy, and other aspects of life. Our research programme aims to leading a better understanding of the public good and deliver on our vision.
See more about our research overview programme.
Our Data and Methods programme aims to provide intelligence for our regulators, helping us to understand the changing world and impact for statistics regulation and production, and to identify risks to use of statistics in public debate. Our current projects include automating the monitoring of public debate around statistics and identifying gaps in our knowledge and measure our impact.
The programme will also explore data use. We are looking at understanding data use in statistics and public debate, which is likely to also expand to use for decision making and impact on public choices. We will also be exploring OSR’s potential future remit and role in regulating data uses within the area of official statistics.
Our policy and standards function maintains the Code of Practice for Statistics and the associated policies and guidance, and leads on promoting and supporting adoption of the Code across the UK. When producers of official statistics comply with the Code, it gives users of statistics and citizens confidence that published government statistics are of public value, are high quality and are produced by people and organisations that are worthy of trust.
We are also working on a review of National Statistics designation and understanding what it means to producers and users of statistics.