UK Statistics Authority

Kate HarleyHead of Programme

UK Statistics Authority

An independent body from 1st April 2008:

• Monitoring publication and quality of Official Statistics• Reporting to Parliament• Definitions, methodology & classifications• Assist in data sharing• Maintain a Code of Practice (consulting with Ministers)• Assess and designate National Statistics (when

requested by Ministers)

www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk

What are Official Statistics?

Statistics produced by UKSA, a government department, devolved administration, or other statistics as specified by a Minister of the Crown or devolved administration.

Statistics & Registration Service Act 2007

What are Official Statistics?

“… consist mainly of regular and planned statistics and analysis produced by statistics units in the Scottish Government, GROS and ISD.”

Framework for Scottish Official Statistics

(www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About/scottishframework#top)

Official Statistics

National Statistics are a subset of Official Statistics which comply with the Code of Practice

Includes Excludes

• National statistics releases• New and emerging statistics• Compendia of published National Statistics• Further breakdown of published National Statistics

• Information Requests• Parliamentary Questions• Freedom Of Information Act • Management information / analysis• Policy development & monitoring• Research

Heads of Profession

ISD – Susan BurneyGROS – Duncan McNivenSG & Chief Statistician – Rob Wishart

Responsible for:• The format, content and timing of statistical

releases.• Promoting the professional independence of

their organisation's statistical work, the quality of its outputs and the integrity and validity of its statistics and commentary.

Code of Practice for Official Statistics

8 Principles:

1. Meeting user needs2. Impartiality & objectivity3. Integrity4. Sound methods & assured quality5. Confidentiality6. Proportionate burden7. Resources8. Frankness & accessibility

Code of Practice for Official Statistics

3 Protocols:

1.User engagement2.Release practices3.Use of administrative sources for

statistical purposes

UK Stats Authority Assessment

January 2010Cancer MortalityCancer IncidenceCancer SurvivalCancer Place of DeathWorkforce

March 2010A&EDiagnosticsNew Ways

Knife Crime Statistics

December 2008

• The Home Office released figures claiming that there had been a drop in knife crime

• Sir Michael Scholar complained that – the figures had been released prematurely and – were incomplete. – he said that officials had asked the government not

to release "unchecked" and "selective" figures and that doing so eroded public trust.

• Home Secretary Jacqui Smith apologised for the incident, telling MPs the government had been "too quick off the mark" in releasing the figures

Knife crime statistics December 2008

Analysis against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics

• Unclear description• Selective or otherwise inappropriate

comparisons• Lack of contextual information• Inappropriate conclusions being drawn• Unsubstantiated claims.

• BBC's Home Affairs Editor says that the UKSA concluded that far from playing fast and loose with the regulations, the Home Office and Number Ten “drove a coach and horses through them".

• "were being mangled and manipulated to make the case that the government's knife crime campaign was having a rapid impact".

Violent Crime Figures

UKSA Press release • recent political and media debate about

trends in violent crime has misrepresented the data and is, therefore, damaging trust in official statistics.

• in particular at comparisons between recorded violent offences in the late 1990s and 2008/09

• comparison, without qualification, of police recorded statistics between the late 1990s and 2008/09 as likely to mislead the public.

Watchdog: Grayling 'likely to damage' trust in statistics

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling has just been sent a sharp letter from Parliament’s statistics watchdog telling him that his use of figures in violent crime is "likely to damage public trust in official statistics".

• BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | ‘Hidden’ waiting lists to be axed

• Boards on target to abolish hidden waiting lists• Cancer patients: Scanlon slams SNP’s ‘hidden

waiting lists’ – News…• Secret wait for cancer patients – Scotsman.com

News• Waiting list fiddlers ‘will be sacked’ | Mail Online