The UK’s Code of Practice for Official Statistics: Realising the Benefits

1. The UK’s Code of Practice for Official Statistics: Realising the Benefits Richard Laux 14 September 2009

2. Contents • Characteristics of the UK statistical system • The new regime – assessment of compliance with a Code of Practice • Recording and classifying the benefits/results of assessments • Success criteria, for Assessment

3. Characteristics of the UK statistical system • Decentralised and devolved – makes enforcement of standards hard … • Trust in statistics and the statistical system is low … • Previous attempts to address standards with non-statutory Code proved ineffective

4. The new regime • A statutory process involving the assessment of sets of statistics against the Authority’s Code (itself a statutory requirement), and designating them as “National Statistics”, if Code compliance is judged to be sufficient • In the absence of direct management responsibility over producers of official statistics, the Authority has the power – indeed, a statutory requirement – to operate openly and report its findings publicly

5. What’s the purpose of the Code? • To set clear standard for producers, that can be readily understood by users and commentators • To facilitate and drive change – for example, by calibrating the practices in the Code • To improve understanding of, and hence trust in, the statistical system: • Better planning, management and dissemination • Putting the needs of users at the heart of the statistical system

6. Realising the benefits (1) • Why? • Stewardship of public money, cost effectiveness, challenge • To identify potential strategic improvements • How? • Using a conceptual framework • Analysing assessments within this context

7. Realising the benefits (2) – the framework • Different types of benefits • Type 1: deterrence • Type 2: specified improvements • Type 3: learning from others • Type 4: early warning • Regular reviews of what we are seeing in our assessments • The types of Requirements we are specifying if a set of statistics is to be designated

8. Type 1: Deterrence Knife crime statistics • Ministers and policy officials are now seeking and accepting advice from their statisticians before quoting statistics • Statistics on people in custody/on license • These statistics will in future be published in bona fide statistical releases

9. Type 2: Specified improvements • Road Casualty statistics • Will in future be published as “reported” road casualty statistics • Will in future be contextualised to show that the (police) reported figures are about one third of the total • Young offenders, and offences • Government is reviewing the way these statistics are presented, to improve accessibility

10. Type 3: Learning from others • Scottish Health Survey results • Will in future describe progress against related government targets – and this practice will be adopted in relation to other statistical reports describing statistics which underpin targets • Analysis of the first 20-30 assessment reports • To identify common themes, and address these systematically rather than piecemeal • Provisional thinking – that themes include planning, user engagement, communication, and reporting.

11. Type 4: Early Warning • 2011 Population Census – planning needs to be mindful of a future assessment – so conducting a retrospective ‘special’ assessment of 2001 Census, as an input • New statistical series/reports – producers want these labelled as National Statistics once released, so we assess underlying processes, award the label, but say we will assess the report itself, in future

12. General benefits identified to date • Increasing awareness of the Authority’s views of good statistical practice • A raised profile for the Authority, and the independent regulation of the UK statistical system • Improving standards of documentation, including metadata • Signs of an acceptance of the need for producers to engage with a wider range of users than previously, and to develop plans that take account of their needs • An acceptance of the need to provide more informative and helpful commentary, and early signs that statistical commentary is beginning to improve • Ministerial/policy officials concern to be ‘seen to do the right thing’.

13. Success criteria • Fewer conditional (re-)designations • For those sets of statistics given conditional re-designation, a greater variety of Requirements • More positive comments about the statistical system by opinion formers • Evidence that users are more satisfied that their needs are being addressed