By Vivienne Russell
29 January 2010
The independence and impartiality of government statisticians needs to be strengthened, the chair of the Statistics Authority has said.
In an open letter to the leaders of the major UK political parties issued today, Sir Michael Scholar said the Statistics Authority should be used more, particularly during a time of financial austerity. He said it was important ‘to ensure both that government has the necessary statistical evidence to guide policy-making and that the public have the information needed to judge the performance of government’.
Looking forward to the next Parliament, Scholar said building up public confidence in the trustworthiness of government statistics should be ‘at the heart of the programme of action which the new House of Commons will – we assume – want to put in place in order to restore trust in Parliament and government’.
He added that the authority should be asked to determine pre-release access arrangements for all official statistics to tackle the widespread perception that they are manipulated by ministers and their special advisers.
The UK Statistics Authority, established in April 2008, exists to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics. Last year it issued the first statutory code of practice against which all official statistics must be assessed.
29 January 2010
The independence and impartiality of government statisticians needs to be strengthened, the chair of the Statistics Authority has said.
In an open letter to the leaders of the major UK political parties issued today, Sir Michael Scholar said the Statistics Authority should be used more, particularly during a time of financial austerity. He said it was important ‘to ensure both that government has the necessary statistical evidence to guide policy-making and that the public have the information needed to judge the performance of government’.
Looking forward to the next Parliament, Scholar said building up public confidence in the trustworthiness of government statistics should be ‘at the heart of the programme of action which the new House of Commons will – we assume – want to put in place in order to restore trust in Parliament and government’.
He added that the authority should be asked to determine pre-release access arrangements for all official statistics to tackle the widespread perception that they are manipulated by ministers and their special advisers.
The UK Statistics Authority, established in April 2008, exists to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics. Last year it issued the first statutory code of practice against which all official statistics must be assessed.
