09 June 2000
In a move designed to boost public confidence in figures published by the government, an independent Statistics Commission, appointed by Chancellor Gordon Brown, has been set up to scrutinise the work of the National Office for Statistics, which will now be known simply as National Statistics (NS).
Speaking at the launch, Johnson said the watchdog had been set up after widespread public consultation and would play a central role in safeguarding the 'quality, integrity and relevance of official statistics'.
The eight-strong commission, headed by the former president of the Royal Statistical Society, Sir John Kingman, will also advise government ministers on how to comply with the new regime.
Kingman said the body would be quick to highlight instances when information provided by departments to NS is incomplete or misleading.
'We shall tell them when we think they are going astray,' he said. 'Our advice to ministers will be published so you will know anything they are up to.
'If we do it properly we will see, I hope, rather less of the sneers – sometimes rather deserved sneers – about the reliability of statistics.'
The focus on the activities of ministers is prompted by NS's new responsibilities. It will collate much of the data that, until now, has been produced by government departments, such as hospital waiting lists, school class sizes and rates of homelessness.
The information will be published on a new website www.statistics.gov.uk from which it can be downloaded free.
Len Cook, who came from New Zealand to take up his post as Britain's first National Statistician and head of NS two weeks ago, is to draw up a national statistics code of practice to ensure the quality of the information published by the organisation. He said he hoped the overhaul of the system would change public attitudes.
'All citizens have to have confidence in the integrity of the process,' he said. 'I want National Statistics to be a trusted source of up-to-date national knowledge.'
PFjun2000
