Select committee: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Conclusion 3
Fifth Report - Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base
Published 24 May 2024
Paragraph 43
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
It is clear that the volume and variety of data generated within the UK has exploded in scale over recent years. While new sources of data have much to offer - not least in improving the timeliness of evidence, and allowing us to delve into issues in greater detail - there are things they simply cannot do. They cannot tell us about citizen’s intentions, they cannot be easily tweaked to capture the information an analyst is seeking, and they are prone to bias. The UK’s public evidence base will be best served, therefore, by bringing together old sources and new.
From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Fifth Report - Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base (HC 197), paragraph 43, 24 May 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 March 2025 (deadline 24 July 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government accepts some of the Committee's recommendations addressed to it, rejects others, and notes two on funding, while referring the remaining recommendations to the UK Statistics Authority.
- On a new data-sharing programme (recommendation 1), the Government "rejects the Committee's recommendation", saying it is "developing a more comprehensive approach", including a National Data Library, with funding implications "considered in the round" at Spending Review 2025.
- It rejects the recommendation to publish evidence and data underpinning major policy announcements (recommendation 14), stating that such decisions lie with departments, which weigh transparency against factors such as public safety and commercial sensitivity.
- It accepts the recommendation to review health and social care data in the Digital Economy Act 2017, saying it will implement this "by the end of 2025", and states it has "now implemented" the recommendation on training communications staff in Intelligent Transparency.
- On future funding of the analysis function and the Office for Statistics Regulation (recommendations 10 and 12), the Government "notes" them, and HM Treasury "will consider all UKSA funding arrangements as part of Spending Review 2025".