Authority Diary - March 2009
Sir Michael Scholar, Chair of the Authority, accompanied by the National Statistician, visited the Department for International Development on 17 March, and met with the Permanent Secretary, Minouche Shafik and departmental statisticians to discuss the work of the Authority, the production of departmental statistics, support for statistical systems in developing countries, and other relevant issues.
At the end of February, the Authority published a series of documents about the procedures for the assessment of official statistics in accordance with sections 12 and 14 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These included guidance on the approach to collecting evidence from statistical producers, users and other stakeholders; information on the sequence of the production and approval of assessment reports, and the proposed structure for the reports themselves; and the terms of reference for an exercise to evaluate the assessment process after the completion of the first tranche of assessments.
On 26 February, the Authority published a further update note on the plans for this year’s Authority Monitoring Reports, including additional information on a report that will consider the extent of engagement between producers and users of official statistics, and ways in which to strengthen the user voice and communicate the needs of users to producers.
On 16 March, the Authority published a Monitoring and Assessment Note reviewing the Office for National Statistics’ press release on UK born and non-UK born employment, published on 12 February, which had been the subject of media comment and a letter from the Authority to the Times newspaper.
The Authority Board held a short meeting on 19 March in Newport. The Board reviewed arrangements for Authority press office and related services and discussed options for the future. The Board also discussed issues surrounding the production and publication of management information. Following the meeting, the Board met informally to review the Authority’s first year since its launch in April 2008, to discuss the activity of Board’s committees, and to discuss the year ahead.
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.
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: 22 April 2009
