Progress to date

The Allsopp Review of Statistics for Economic Policymaking examined the information needed to support the Government’s key regional policy objectives. The programme took forward its recommendations and made substantial progress within tight budgetary constraints.

The strategy for implementing these recommendations was to set up a number of development projects which lie along the critical path to delivering the outcomes of the Programme, as well as leveraging work across the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which contributed to the broader Allsopp agenda.

The focus was on the development of the essential infrastructure (the Business Register, access to administrative data) on which surveys depend, as well as on the technical development work required for the development of new surveys.

The Programme delivered a team of Regional Statisticians to each of the nine English Regions in March 2007, through working in partnership with the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). It was committed to delivering output-based real regional Gross Value Added (GVA) estimates by 2009, on an experimental basis initially. For more information on the regional statisticians visit the ONS Regional Statisticians pages.

The projects delivered:

• better access to administrative data

• improved data on businesses' regional and local operations (local units) so that national survey results can be better allocated to individual regions

• development of the technical methods and processes for the production of regional Gross Value Added (GVA) in real terms

• improved decision-making capabilities and communications with regional stakeholders

These projects have included parallel development of the business register and the new Business Register Employment Survey (BRES) to inform the register; BRES will replace two existing annual surveys: the Business Register Survey (BRS) and the employment part of the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI1).

BRES maintained the business register and produced annual employment estimates, enabling improved apportionment of Business Survey data and thus better local unit data. A small-scale pilot test of BRES was carried out in 2007 and plans included a larger-scale full pilot in 2008 with the launch of the full survey in 2009.

In the current climate of Better Regulation and tight finances, new plans were formed to deliver real regional GVA using the output approach which do not rely on large expansions of Business Surveys.

These plans will meet the initial delivery date for new data. The first experimental estimates of GVA estimates are planned for December 2009.