28 November 2008
By Paul Dicken
MPs might have to adjudicate on disputes between the UK Statistics Authority and government departments, the chair of the authority has said.
Giving evidence for the first time to the Commons public administration select committee, Sir Michael Scholar said that if a department did not improve its statistics sufficiently following oversight by the authority, he would 'very much wish to lay this before the committee [and] explain… what we thought needed to be done.
'The body providing the statistics would get its side of the story as well and then I think the committee would decide whether it wishes to support us against the department.'
He said this could be a part of the 'parliamentary support and scrutiny' that the authority relied on.
The UK Statistics Authority, with the Office for National Statistics as its executive office, came into being in April this year. It has the aim of rebuilding public trust in official statistics.
As an independent body it was formed to promote and safeguard the production and publication of statistics.
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