Book Description

In this report the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) concludes that, despite the positive steps implemented by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (the Act), there remain issues and concerns about the way government statistics are produced and disseminated which remain a genuine risk to public confidence in the statistical system and must be addressed. The Act was intended to ensure that statistics are produced to the highest professional standards and that effective governance structures are in place to protect transparency and accountability and the Committee found the Act had helped to improve the operation of the statistical system. However, the Act needs to have greater clarity and transparency in the way it operates and in the functioning of the UK Statistics Authority (the Statistics Authority). Those who regulate the quality of National Statistics are in the same organisation as those officials who produce data: the two groups should have a clear separation in practice, but this is hard to demonstrate when they work in the same building and share support services. It is also not appropriate that ministers should have lengthy prior access to certain statistics but other interested parties do not. The Statistics Authority does not seem to have sufficient control over the quality and integrity of the different data sets and statistical products produced by departments and their agencies. Planning and improving data access both within Government and for users outside Government should be given greater attention by the Statistics Authority, as well as by Government departments.