Call for Quality Audit of Official Statistics

The UK's independent Statistics Commission is calling for clearer quality standards for the production and dissemination of official statistics, in order to engender public trust. The Commission's new report also concludes that - to meet users' needs - there should be 'greater emphasis on fitness for purpose'.

Drawing on advice from the National Audit Office and its own investigations, the Commission's report, Managing the Quality of Official Statistics, argues that the current National Statistics Code of Practice on quality and data management is 'insufficiently rigorous as a quality assurance tool'.

It recommends an audit-based approach to quality reviews for all UK official statistics, under the guidance of the National Statistician. This approach would cover the design of statistical systems, the management of the production of statistics, and the guidance given to official statistics users.

Commission Chair David Rhind states that 'the key to statistical quality management must be a sound understanding of the user requirement, coupled with systematic assessment - or audit - of the underlying processes to ensure the figures are fit for that purpose'.

The Statistics Commission was set up in 2000 to advise on quality assurance, procedures and priority setting for official statistics. It is independent both of the government and of the producers of official statistics. A copy of the report is available from www.statscom.org.uk/media_pdfs/reports/QualityManagementReport.pdf.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.