Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 48
ONS ambition to deliver high-quality population statistics and new data sources supported.
Conclusion
We support the Office for National Statistics in its ambition to deliver high-quality and timely population statistics. It is right to be considering whether new data sources might offer opportunities to improve the UK’s evidence base, and it is also right to be engaging closely with users of that evidence base, as decisions are taken on the future of the decennial census.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government accepts the recommendation and confirms it supports the principle that statistics are for the public good, as enshrined in existing legislation. No specific new actions are committed to regarding new data sources or user engagement for the census.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
48
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
Both the ONS and the Authority welcome the Committee’s recognition of the opportunities offered by administrative data sources. We also recognise the need to improve the culture of data-sharing across government if we are to maximise those opportunities. This is a challenge that was also highlighted by Professor Denise Lievesley’s review earlier this year, and which the Authority continues to work with partners across the public sector to resolve. Data already held within the public sector mean population and migration statistics can be more consistently accurate and produced more often and quickly. As a result, decision-makers have more, higher-quality, information about local populations, their characteristics, where they live and the public services they need. In line with the Committee’s recommendation, the ONS continues its work to develop and improve admin-based population estimates, using innovative new methods and a wider range of data sources, accounting for quality limitations in the data. We published updated estimates as official statistics in development in July,16 and aim for these to become the official mid-year population estimates in 2025. The Authority expects to publish its recommendation on the future of population and migration statistics in England and Wales in the coming months. This recommendation will draw on extensive engagement with users of these statistics, including through the public consultation last year, and will include the Authority’s proposed approach to the future of the census in England and Wales.
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