About the GSS
The Government Statistical Service (GSS) is a government-wide umbrella body coordinated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is one of several professional communities within the Civil Service. It serves to bind together all of the statisticians and other analysts across government, as well as their support staff, who are responsible for the collection, production, analysis and dissemination of official statistics, and who are ultimately responsible to the National Statistician, acting in her capacity as the Head of the GSS, through their own departmental Head of Profession for Statistics.
The GSS is simultaneously a centralised, decentralised and devolved community. It comprises some 6,700 persons, the vast majority of whom are Civil Servants, more than half of whom work in the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The remainder work in 41 other UK government departments and agencies, and in the two devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. Although the equivalent staff in Northern Ireland are not affiliated to the GSS, they work very closely with the GSS and share a common professional culture. Together, the GSS manages a wide range of censuses, surveys and data sources from which they produce some 1,400 individual statistical products, more than 80 per cent of which are labelled as code-compliant 'National Statistics'.
Decentralisation is a key feature of the UK statistical system and is often described as both its strength (it keeps statisticians close to their policy customers and maintains statistical expertise across government) and its weakness (it can create conflicts of loyalty). More than 80 per cent of all professional statisticians in the GSS work alongside their policy colleagues in the 41 other government organisations which are affiliated to the Government Statistical Service. About four-fifths of all official statistics which are designated as code-compliant 'National Statistics' are produced by statisticians working outside the ONS in other government departments.
Heads of Profession (HoPs)
Every UK government department or agency which has a significant GSS 'presence' - in terms of either its production or use of GSS statistics - has its own designated statistical Head of Profession (HoP), as do each of the three devolved administrations. These HoPs along with the Chief Statisticians in the devolved administrations (excluding Northern Ireland), and all the staff whom they manage, constitute the Government Statistical Service. HoPs in other departments are appointed by their own heads of department after seeking the views of the National Statistician. As well as being accountable to their own ministers and departmental line managers, and working closely with the heads of the other analytical professions in their departments, HoPs for statistics are responsible to the National Statistician for the professional competence and quality of the statisticians and statistics which they manage. In particular, HoPs are responsible for observing the professional standards set by the National Statistician.
Statisticians in Government Team (SiGT)
The SiGT is a dedicated unit positioned within the ONS and is responsible for setting and maintaining standards across the GSS covering professional recruitment, qualifications, training, development and promotion.
Facts/Statistics
Total GSS complement: 6,700 (excluding field staff) of which:
ONS: 3,400
Other UK departments: 2,370
Scotland: 470
Wales: 100
Comparable staff in Northern Ireland : 360
