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In the March 2007 Budget Report, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the introduction of the Office for National Statistics regional statistical teams. The development of regional statistical teams was a recommendation from the Allsopp Review of Statistics for Economic Policymaking.

A statistical team is based in each of the nine regions of England. The regional statisticians are a source of regional expertise for ONS. They provide a key method of improving each region's information base for the benefit of the region and of ONS. Each team has begun working with regional and sub-regional institutions to improve the comparability of regional data.

Core functions

The initial core functions of the regional statistical teams are outlined below. These functions are subject to further development by each regional team to ensure they best meet the needs of ONS and the region.

• To gather intelligence to help improve the quality of ONS data and processes, keeping ONS up to date with changes in the regions
• To quality assure final estimates of regional GVA
• To help improve the quality of the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) and business survey data, which will feed through to regional GVA
• To provide access to IDBR data for RDAs
• To act as focus to feed views through from regional bodies, assisting ONS in its decision-making
• To provide a first point of ONS contact for key regional bodies
• To provide independent advice to regional users on the use of ONS and GSS (Government Statistical Service) statistics, including on technical issues, such as the use of statistics in monitoring performance against targets