Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Not Addressed
The Ministerial Code needs to be strengthened so it is clear that Ministers are required...
Recommendation
The Ministerial Code needs to be strengthened so it is clear that Ministers are required to abide by the UKSA Code of Practice in their presentation of data. The UKSA Code includes the principle of trustworthiness that builds “confidence in the people and organisations that produce statistics and data”. Abiding by the UKSA Code of Practice is a statutory requirement for Government Departments. It is simply not enough to ask Ministers to be “mindful” of the UKSA code. (Paragraph 47) 48 Government transparency and accountability during Covid 19: The data underpinning decisions
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response states a letter was sent to the Committee, but provides no details on how it addresses the recommendation to strengthen the Ministerial Code to ensure Ministers abide by the UKSA Code of Practice.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The Government agrees that statistics should be used in a way that builds confidence and upholds the three pillars of the Code of Practice - trustworthiness, quality and value. Ministers and their departments are subject to the Code of Practice in respect of National Statistics, as required by the Statistics and Registration Act 2007. The Ministerial Code states that Ministers should be mindful of the good practice in relation to all official statistics, including those not covered by the statutory requirements of the legislation. There will be occasions where it is in the public interest to utilise emerging information, such as to provide a more accurate and up to date response to Parliament. As such, the Government does not agree that a change is necessary to the Ministerial Code.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗