Recommendation 15

The Board of the UKSA exists to oversee the production of reliable statistics. That the Board seemed unaware of issues within the ONS until they reached crisis point, notably, though not only, with the Labour Force Survey, suggests it failed in its core purpose. Its reluctance to involve itself in the 40 ONS operations appears to have extended to a lack of oversight, of scrutiny, and of challenge. The Board was repeatedly taken by surprise by problems with the ONS’s culture and its outputs. It is difficult to understand why the Board, who must have understood that they were not receiving full and accurate accounts from their executive as far back as 2023, did not move more quickly to address the problem. They would have been well within their rights to demand copies of damning reports on culture and closely monitor the ONS’s response. At any point, they could have made clear that senior executives no longer held the Board’s confidence. They might have, as other boards before them had, reported publicly to Parliament about their concerns. Instead, they waited until early 2025 to jointly commission with the Cabinet Office an independent review of the ONS, a review that set out things a board should already have known. The Board’s delay and inaction have cost the statistical system, as well as the very many of us who depend on official data. (Conclusion, Paragraph 75)