Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Paragraph: 46
Publish annual ONS information on requested datasets, rationale, and request status online.
Recommendation
Separately, the Office for National Statistics should publish information on the datasets it is seeking on an annual basis, setting out its rationale for seeking those data, and details on the status of the request - all of which should be made available on the ONS website.
Government response summary AI-generated
The OSR accepts the recommendation in principle and will enhance its focus on data gaps in future editions of its annual 'State of the Statistical System' report. The report, last published in July 2024, is the OSR's key publication for insights on the statistical system and its challenges.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
46
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
22. The ONS accepts the Committee’s recommendation that we publish information on, and rationale for, the datasets we are seeking on our website annually. This fits well with our strong desire to be transparent about the data we use to support statistical outputs. For example, we already publish a report on the datasets that we have acquired that contain personal identifiers which was most recently updated in July 2024.15 We are working to expand the coverage of this publication to cover a broader array of alternative and administrative data sources, irrespective of whether the dataset contains personal identifiers or not. 23. We have a broader transparency ambition, which will lead to further publications that provide information about how the data we acquire are processed and the relationship between these data ‘inputs’ and our broad portfolio of statistical outputs. Whilst all the necessary information is available on an individual basis, drawing together all of the elements 12 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64184bccd3bf7f79d9675dbd/Data_ Maturity_Assessment_for_Government_-_FINAL_PDF.pdf 13 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/essential-shared-data-assets-and-data- ownership-in-government/essential-shared-data-assets-esdas-policy-html 14 https://integrateddataservice.gov.uk/ 15 https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/datastrategy/ sourcesofdata/transparencytablenewpublishedsheetjuly2024.xlsx needed to depict this will require a programme of work across the office, including the development of an enterprise data model. We intend to start with some illustrative examples to test the best ways of presenting what will be a very large amount of information. We will then expand from that point, recognising the need to be both informative and comprehensive. 24. We also acknowledge the importance of being transparent about the data that we have not yet acquired, in both illuminating the progress on key data shares, but also conveying a clear sense of our progress in delivering a viable administrative data based statistical system. Therefore, we agree to add data that is in the process of being acquired to our transparency reporting. We will develop the best format for these publications, in conjunction with our various suppliers so that we can appropriately convey the status of an acquisition. 25. We recognise that data sharing is a complex process. Various stages are required to mature sharing arrangements and deliver sustainable supplies of data and it is necessary to provide a sense of how mature our sharing arrangements are. We must also ensure that we adhere to commercial sensitivities in naming some suppliers.
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