Authority Diary - November 2009
The Authority Chair, Sir Michael Scholar spoke at the inaugural meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Statistics at the House of Lords on 3 November. A report on this event can be found on the Straight Statistics website: http://www.straightstatistics.org/article/new-parliamentary-forum-statistics-launched
On 9 November Sir Michael, accompanied by Lord Rowe-Beddoe, Deputy Chair with responsibility for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and the National Statistician, Jil Matheson visited the ONS office in Titchfield to visit staff working on the Census 2011 programme. Following a recent exchange of correspondence about the Census between Nick Hurd MP and the Authority, Sir Michael and Jil Matheson met with Rt. Hon. Francis Maude MP and Mr Hurd on 16 November. In November, Sir Michael also replied to a letter from Philip Hammond MP, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, regarding claims made by the Prime Minister of the impact on jobs of government policy.
These letters and the Authority’s replies are available on the website via Reports and Correspondence > Correspondence.
Sir Michael also met the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP on 23 November.
On 19 November Sir Michael addressed the annual conference of the Statistics User Forum. The subject of his speech was the role of statistics in a democratic society and the full text of his speech can be downloaded via the News page.
The Authority Board met in London on 20 November. The Board received an update from the Census Director on progress with the Census 2011; discussed data confidentiality; considered the draft interim Monitoring Report on Barriers to Trust in Crime Statistics; received a progress report on the Assessment Programme; and approved for publication a further four Assessment reports:
- Energy Statistics (Department of Energy and Climate Change)
- Average Weekly Earnings (Office for National Statistics)
- National Child Measurement Programme (NHS Information Centre); and
- Wealth in Great Britain (Office for National Statistics)
The Assessment reports were published on 26 November, and they can be downloaded from the website via Monitoring & Assessment > Assessment reports.
The minutes and papers for the November meeting of the Authority Board will be published on the website shortly via About the Authority > Boards and Committees.
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, or write to us at: Statistics House, Myddelton Street, London, EC1R 1UW, or telephone our enquiry line on 0845 604 1857.
