Authority Diary - April 2009

During April, the Authority replied to a letter from the Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency, Lin Homer, in response to an earlier letter from the Authority to the Home Office Minister Phil Woolas MP regarding the publication of statistics on foreign national prisoners. The correspondence is available on the Authority’s website under Reports and Correspondence > Correspondence.

On 7 April, the Authority published an interim report as part of its monitoring review of migration statistics. The report is available on the Authority’s website under Reports and Correspondence > Reports. The final report is expected to be published in July.

The Authority held an open meeting on 22 April at the Royal Statistical Society in London to discuss the interim findings and recommendations contained in the interim report. A summary of the points raised during the meeting and related documentation, including a copy of the presentations, will be published on the Authority’s website in the near future.

The Authority Board met in Newport on 17 April. The Authority received an update report from the ONS Census team on the 2011 Census and plans for Census outputs. The Board discussed engagement with the Government Statistical Service, and whether there are lessons to be learned from the recent experience of other regulators, for example in the financial services industry, school and child inspection regimes, and in the governance of the National Audit Office.

The Authority also received a progress report on the Assessment programme, discussed the governance of the Retail Prices Index, plans for the Authority’s 2008-09 annual report, and an update on the House Prices Index following recent correspondence between the Authority and the Land Registry.

The minutes and papers from the April Authority Board meeting will be published on the Authority website in due course. Minutes and papers of the March Board and previous meetings are published on the website on the About the Authority > Board and committee documentation pages.

Before the Easter parliamentary recess, the Authority gave evidence to the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee following the media interest in a Office for National Statistics’ press release about UK and non-UK born employment, published in February, and a subsequent Authority Monitoring and Assessment Note. A transcript of the session is available on the Parliament website at:

http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/public_administration_select_committee/

If you have any questions about the work of the UK Statistics Authority, or if you have any comments or issues that you want to raise with us, please email authority.enquiries@statistics.gov.uk, write to us at: Statistics House, Myddelton Street, London EC1R 1UW, or telephone our enquiry line on 0845 604 1857.

Next issue of Authority Diary: 18 May 2009