The statistics watchdog set out initial proposals (for consultation) for a revised code of practice to apply to all government bodies that produced national statistics. The revisions were designed to make the code shorter and simpler, and a structured basis for independent assessment and audit.
Source: A Code of Practice for National Statistics: Interim Report For Consultation, Statistics Commission (020 7273 8008)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Dec
The fair trading watchdog said that raw information held by the public sector was not as easily available as it should be. Licensing arrangements were restrictive, prices were not always linked to costs, and information holders might be charging higher prices to competing businesses and giving them less attractive terms than their own value-added operations.
Source: The Commercial Use of Public Information, Office of Fair Trading (0870 606 0321)
Links: Report | OFT press release
Date: 2006-Dec
The report of a government-commissioned review said that the way crime statistics were produced needed a 'radical overhaul'. The existing system missed out significant groups of victims, and some definitions of crime were 'confusing and misleading'.
Source: Crime Statistics: An independent review, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report | Home Office press release | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2006-Nov
The government published a Statistics and Registration Service Bill. The Bill was designed to create a new independent Board with a statutory responsibility for ensuring the quality and comprehensiveness of official statistics.
Source: Statistics and Registration Service Bill, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Downing Street Briefing | HMT press release | ONS press release | Statistics Commission press release | FDA press release | Times report | FT report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
The questions to be included in the 2007 Census test were published. New questions included ones about national identity (to allow respondents to record their English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, Irish, or other identity; about income (to collect level and sources of income); and on month and year of entry into the United Kingdom (to collect extra information about international migration).
Source: Press release 31 October 2006, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: ONS press release
Date: 2006-Oct
An article examined improvements to labour market statistics that had stemmed from the transformation of the Labour Force Survey since 1991.
Source: Barry Werner, 'Reflections on fifteen years of change in using the Labour Force Survey', Labour Market Trends, August 2006, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Article
Date: 2006-Sep
The statistics watchdog said that Home Office ministers should be removed from any involvement in the production of official crime statistics, in order to restore public confidence in their accuracy.
Source: Crime Statistics: User Perspectives, Report 30, Statistics Commission (020 7273 8008)
Links: Report | StatComm press release | Guardian report | Times report
Date: 2006-Sep
The Office for National Statistics published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Office for National Statistics Annual Report and Accounts 2005/06, HC 1240, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jul
The statistics watchdog published its annual report for 2005-06. It welcomed the government's plans for a statutory framework for official statistics: but it stressed that the responsibilities, accountability, and constitution of the proposed Board would be crucial to achieving greater public trust in official statistics.
Source: Annual Report 2005-06, Cm 6857, Statistics Commission, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | StatComm press release
Date: 2006-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that government proposals for increasing the independence of the Office for National Statistics did not go far enough.
Source: Independence for Statistics, Tenth Report (Session 2005-06), HC 1111, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | StatCom press release
Date: 2006-Jul
An article described new measures to improve the quality of public expenditure data entering into the national accounts.
Source: 'Improving the quality of central government expenditure data', Economic Trends, June 2006, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Article
Date: 2006-Jun
An article examined the needs of policy-makers and researchers in relation to the United Kingdom Census. It said that there was a pressing need for a more radical review of the existing approaches to Census content and data access.
Source: Kingsley Purdam, 'The nation's data? The UK census ? guaranteed confidentiality but only limited information', Evidence & Policy, Volume 2 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-May
A report called for a wider range of social and demographic data to enable planners and policymakers to cope with huge changes in people's living arrangements - for example, there were increasing proportions of children not living with their biological parents (and often with step-parents), and adults with former partners alive.
Source: John Ermisch and Mike Murphy, Changing Household and Family Structures and Complex Living Arrangements, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report | ESRC press release
Date: 2006-May
The Office for National Statistics published its annual report for 2005-06.
Source: Spring 2006 Departmental Report, Cm 6838, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
New measures were proposed to improve the quality of official data on public expenditure, following concerns expressed in an independent review.
Source: Press release 16 March 2006, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034)
Links: ONS press release
Date: 2006-Mar
The government began consultation on proposals to entrench existing arrangements on the independence of official statistics in legislation; introduce direct reporting and accountability to parliament, rather than through Ministers; place a statutory responsibility on a new independent governing board to assess and approve all official statistics against the code of practice, also backed by statute; make key appointments to the board through open and fair competition; and remove the statistics office from ministerial control, by establishing it as a non-ministerial department, with special funding arrangements outside the normal spending review process.
Source: Independence for Statistics: A consultation document, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Consultation document | Statistics Commission press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A report by the statistics watchdog examined aspects of the interaction between the United Kingdom and European Union statistical systems.
Source: Impact of EU Demands on the UK Statistical System, Statistics Commission (020 7273 8008)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Feb
The results were published of a consultation about the role, priorities, and effectiveness of the Statistics Commission. There was considerable support for a statutory scrutinizing body answerable to Parliament, in place of the existing non-statutory arrangements.
Source: Perceptions of the Statistics Commission: Internal report, Statistics Commission (020 7273 8008)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Feb
The government announced a cross-party review of how crime statistics in England and Wales were compiled and published, designed to increase public understanding of crime trends.
Source: Press release 26 January 2006, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Home Office press release | ACPO press release
Date: 2006-Jan
A report said that there had been a serious decline in certain aspects of trust in government information, driven by increased awareness of 'spin' and the debates over the case for war with Iraq. Public confidence in official statistics had diminished as a result.
Source: Who Do You Believe? Trust in government information, MORI Social Research Institute (020 7347 3000)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jan