Public Confidence and Independence
Historically, the UK statistical system has suffered from low levels of public trust in official statistics. While there is a high degree of public and media confidence in the integrity of government statisticians themselves, and in the quality of the statistics they produce, this is counterbalanced by a high level of mistrust in the way these statistics are handled and disseminated.
Research carried out by ONS and the Statistics Commission into Public Confidence in Official Statistics (PCOS) during the period 2004/05 culminated in the production of a report in February 2005 entitled Public Confidence in Official Statistics.
This showed that:
- 31% (about one person in three) did not believe that figures were generally accurate
- only 17% of respondents (around one in six people) believed that official figures were produced without political interference
- 60% of respondents (three in five people) believed that the Government uses official figures dishonestly
One of the key objectives of the Statistics and Registration Service Act, therefore, is to improve public confidence in official statistics by demonstrating that they are produced to best professional standards, and free from political interference.
The Act gives:
- ONS independence from Ministers by transforming it into the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority
- the Statistics Authority the power to assess official statistics for compliance with its own Code of Practice for Statistics
In June 2008 the National Statistician presented a paper on Public Trust in UK Official Statistics to the OECD Committee on Statistics (CSTAT). The paper and summary of issues raised in discussion can be found via the 'How to Monitor Public Trust in Official Statistics – OECD CSTAT June 2008' Related link.
