Statistics
The UK Statistics Authority and The Office for National Statistics
The UK Statistics Authority
The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body operating at arm's length from government as a non-ministerial department, directly accountable to Parliament. It was established on 1 April 2008 by the 'Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007'.
The Authority's overall objective is to promote and safeguard the quality of official statistics that serve the public good. It is also required to safeguard the comprehensiveness of official statistics, and ensure good practice in relation to official statistics.
The UK Statistics Authority has three main functions:
1. oversight of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - its executive office
2. monitoring and reporting on all UK official statistics, wherever produced, and
3. independent assessment of official statistics Membership of the Authority's Board comprises the Chair of the Authority, seven other non-executive members, and three executive members.
Their role relates to all statistical outputs produced by all government departments.
For more information, visit the UK Statistics Authority website.
The Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to Parliament. ONS is the UK Government's single largest statistical producer.
It functions as:
- the office of the National Statistician, who is also the UK Statistics Authority's Chief Executive and principal statistical adviser
- the UK's National Statistics Institute (or NSI - to use European terminology), and
- the 'Head Office' of the Government Statistical Service (GSS)
Governance
ONS operates under two levels of governance.
- strategic oversight is provided by the Statistics Authority
- day-to-day management is the responsibility of the Executive Management Group (EMG)
Budget, Staffing and Location
- in 2008/09 total ONS budget amounts to £237 million
- ONS employs some 3,900 staff (of whom 1,300 are field staff who collect information for social surveys). This total includes 250 members of the 'Statistician Group' within the GSS, as well as more than 200 members of the Government Social Research (GSR) Service
- ONS operates from three main sites - from its corporate headquarters at Newport in South Wales, from Titchfield, near Portsmouth in Hampshire, and from its offices in Myddelton Street in London
Historical Background
The Office for National Statistics was created in 1996 through a merger of the Central Statistical Office (CSO) - created by the then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, in 1941 to aid the war effort - and the Office for Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) - created in 1970 by the Director of the CSO.
Outputs and Activities
The ONS is responsible for the production of a wide range of economic and social statistics, in both electronic and hardcopy format. ONS's flagship products cover such topics as
- the UK's National Accounts (such as Gross Domestic Product, National Income and Expenditure)
- the UK Balance of Payments · population, demography and migration
- government output and activity
- business output and activity
- prices (such as consumer and producer)
- the labour market (such as employment, unemployment and earnings)
- vital events (such as births, marriages, morbidity and deaths)
- social statistics (for example statistics about neighbourhoods and families)
The ONS also works with the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to carry out the decennial Census of Population - next due in 2011. As well as delivering many of the UK's key economic and social statistics, the ONS also undertakes a range of corporate activities on behalf of the National Statistician, acting in her capacity as the National Statistician and Head of the GSS. For example, the ONS:
- administers the governance arrangement for the GSS
- sets statistical policy and professional standards, and monitors their implementation across the GSS
- co-ordinates statistical production across the UK system
- represents the UK within the European Statistical System (ESS)
Visit the Office for National Statistics' website.
Last update: Wednesday, September 03, 2008