Authority Diary - October 2009
The Authority Chair, Sir Michael Scholar and the National Statistician, Jil Matheson met with Rt. Hon Vera Baird QC MP, Solicitor General following Sir Michael's letter of 11 June to the Minister for Women and Equality, Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman QC MP, regarding the presentation of statistics on the gender pay gap in a Government Equalities Office press release in April.
Sir Michael wrote to Dame Gillian Morgan, Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Assembly Government on 2 October following a complaint from John Mays, Chair of PARITY about statements made in the Welsh Assembly Government's Strategic Action Plan to Address Violence and Domestic Abuse regarding levels of domestic abuse against women. A reply dated 14 October was received from Dame Gillian Morgan.
On 19 October, Sir Michael wrote to Tim Yeo MP, Chair of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee regarding the reporting of UK emissions under the EU Trading Scheme. Sir Michael also wrote to Nick Hurd MP on 27 October following comments made by Mr Hurd in the press about plans for the 2011 Census. These items of correspondence are available on the Authority’s website under Reports and Correspondence > Correspondence.
The Authority Board met in London on 16 October. At the meeting the Authority considered and endorsed proposals to streamline the Assessment process; agreed a proposed forward work plan for the Assessment programme; discussed a specification for a Monitoring review of the arrangements for pre-release access to official statistics since they had been in force for almost a year; discussed further correspondence received on the issue of a national address register; considered issues of conduct and procedure during a forthcoming General Election; and discussed proposals made by the Consumer Prices Advisory Committee on changes to the Retail Prices Index.
The minutes and papers from the October Authority Board will be published on the Authority website in due course. Minutes and papers of the September Board and previous meetings of the Board are published on the website on the About the Authority > Board and committee documentation pages.
The Authority published a further four Assessment reports on 22 October on Statistics on Children Looked After by Local Authorities in England (Department for Children, Schools and Families); Statistics on Children Looked After by Local Authorities in Scotland (Scottish Government); Statistics on Children Looked After by Local Authorities in Wales (Welsh Assembly Government); and Statistics on Children Looked After by Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Northern Ireland). These are available on the website under Monitoring & Assessment > Assessment reports.
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.
