Statistics

Serving the needs of users of statistics

September 12, 2024 by lisaclark No Comments | Category Statistics Policy

This is the first of two blogs published by the Office of the Chief Statistician in Scottish Government in response to recommendations of the Independent Review of the UK Statistics Authority by Professor Denise Lievesley. Through the blogs we touch on the purpose of Government statistics which are fundamental to open and transparent government and accountability. We consider how best to produce statistics drawing on themes from Scottish Government’s Statistics Group Strategic Priorities that promotes statistical improvement and good practice in statistics production.

In this blog we explore some of the recommendations relating to the users of statistics. We cover how statistics should be created for public good and what we call the ‘helicopter overview’ that statisticians must have to achieve this.

 

Background

In March 2024, Cabinet Office published the Independent Review of the UK Statistics Authority by Professor Denise Lievesley. The Review makes recommendations for the UK statistical system. While they are mainly directed at the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), several of the recommendations are relevant to Scottish Government statistics.

This blog focuses on recommendations on user engagement and pre-release access to statistics.

User engagement

We produce statistics to be used, so considering the needs of everyone using the statistics is important. Our strategic priorities recommend statistics producers continuously engage with a wide range of users.

Statistics producers have the best ‘helicopter view’ of the landscape in which their statistics are produced and used. They have the best oversight of the data, resources, user needs and processes to produce statistics. They know how easy or difficult it is to accommodate new analysis, and judge its overall value for users.

The Lievesley review recommends taking engagement with users seriously, stating:

“To demonstrate the commitment to user engagement and remind producers of its importance, the reference to ‘consult users before making changes that affect statistics or publications’ in the UKSA Code of Practice should be reinstated so that users are consulted before producers make substantial changes to statistical data collection or outputs.”

We agree with Professor Lievesley; we should create a culture where statistics producers drive changes informed by users, but not directed by users. Statisticians should balance professional judgement with sensibly incorporating the views of all users to influence the direction of travel of their statistics. There needs to be a respect and understanding of the ‘helicopter view’ that statistics producers have.

With finite resources and competing priorities decisions need to be made on discontinuing or reducing the frequency of statistics that add less value. We encourage our statisticians that have the best oversight to make those decisions. Producers should be transparent about their thinking, and use different channels such as stakeholder events, consultations and thought pieces to communicate the bigger picture to users.

The statistics producers’ identity crisis

Statisticians wear different hats depending on the different users they are dealing with.

The Code of Practice for Statistics says producers should be “impartial and independent” to drive trust in statistics.

Statistics producers often work within Government, and are under increasing pressure to provide more evidence for Ministers and policy colleagues.

Balancing resources to meet the needs of different types of user can be difficult for producers.

The key to this is the concept of public good. The Office for Statistics Regulation’s (OSR) Vision says that statistics should serve the public good. This means that statistics should be accessible for the public to understand what is going in society and how well Government is performing. For example, during the pandemic, statistics on the number of infections, deaths and vaccinations were beamed onto our television sets daily, as this was used to explain Government decisions as we progressed through the pandemic.

Having public good as central in decision making of what statistical work to prioritise reinforces the independence of statisticians. It also protects politicians from the perception that Official Statistics can be manipulated which builds trust.

Pre-release access to statistics

This raises the question: if statistics are for the public why should anyone have early access to them? The Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008 allows access to statistics up to five working days before release. This enables Ministers to understand what the statistics mean and respond promptly to questions once they are released to explain to the public. Pre-release access is strictly limited to maintain public trust.

The Lievesley Review also covers this topic in recommendation 4:

“The inconsistent application of Pre-Release Access to official statistics across the UK Statistical system has the potential to undermine trust… devolved legislatures should amend the relevant secondary legislation for each nation at the earliest opportunity to follow the approach to Pre-Release Access taken by the ONS in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.”

While pre-release access to official statistics serves a function for Ministers and Government, we are open-minded to the future of pre-release access for Scottish statistics and seriously consider the recommendation which has already been adopted within ONS.

The Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Act 2021 amended the 2008 order to reduce pre-release access to economic statistics. There is no pre-release access to statistics on GDP, Scottish retail sales or market sensitive statistics. Other economic statistics have a maximum pre-release access period of 24 hours.

In the Act we committed to a review of how well the revised pre-release access arrangements for economic statistics work. The Office of the Chief Statistician is currently working on setting this up. Widening the scope of the review enables us to decide the future of pre-release access for all Scottish statistics as per the Lievesley recommendation. We will keep you posted via this blog on the review and next steps.

In the next blog we will discuss how Scottish producers of statistics work within the UK statistical system.

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