Authority Diary - February 2009
The Authority Board met on 16 January in Newport. The Board received an update from the National Statistician on plans for the 2011 Census. The Census Director provided information on the security approach to be adopted for the Census and on the Beyond 2011 programme which looks at the requirements of users following the next Census. The Board considered the circumstances under which the Authority would expect to comment on the public use of management information and the use of statistics in policy documents.
The Board also received update reports on the scope of the Authority’s future Monitoring Report on Barriers to trust in crime statistics, the draft interim report on Improving migration statistics, and detailed information on the management of statutory Assessments. Finally, the Board considered the business plan for the Authority’s Secretariat and Monitoring and Assessment teams.
The minutes and papers from the February Authority Board meeting will be published on the Authority website in due course. Minutes and papers of the January Board and previous meetings are published on the website on the About the Authority > Board and committee documentation pages.
Since the last Diary, the Authority wrote to the Home Office Minister, Phil Woolas, regarding statistics on the deportation of foreign national prisoners that were released in a Home Office press notice over the Christmas period. The Statistics Authority also responded to the recommendations made to the Authority by the House of Commons’ Innovation, Universities, Science, and Skills Committee regarding the presentation of statistics in the DIUS annual report for 2008.
The Authority Chair, Sir Michael Scholar, wrote to the Editor of the Times on 12 February regarding news coverage of a press release by the Office for National Statistics concerning statistics on the number of British and foreign-born workers. These letters are available on the Authority’s website under Reports and Correspondence > Correspondence.
Work on the first tranche of Assessments has begun. A schedule for these Assessments covering the period to June 2009 alongside an update on its future plans for Authority Monitoring Reports are both available via the News page on the Authority’s website.
An updated version of the Authority Issues Log was published at the start of February. The issues log lists those issues raised with us, a number of which have resulted in the Authority undertaking further investigations. The Issues Log is available on the website under Reports and Correspondence > Issues Log.
If you have any questions about the work of the UK Statistics Authority, or have any comments or issues that you want to raise with us, 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: 20 March 2009
