United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC)
The United Nations Statistics Commission (UNSC) was established in 1947. It brings together Chief Statisticians from Member States from around the world. It is the highest decision making body for international statistical activities - especially the setting of statistical standards, the development of concepts and methods and their implementation at the national and international level. UNSC meets annually in New York. It oversees the work of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). The UNSC also organises an annual Conference of European Statisticians (CES) held in Geneva. The UK is represented at these meetings by the National Statistician.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Committee on Statistics (CSTAT)
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. It works with governments to understand what drives economic, social and environmental change. OECD measures productivity and global flows of trade and investment and analyses and compares data to predict future trends. It sets international standards on a wide range of things, from agriculture and tax to the safety of chemicals. A Committee on Statistics (CSAT) meets annually to bring together different areas of the statistically developed world in order to identify common strategies and compile comparable statistics describing the culture and evolution of different economic areas. The National Statistician represents UK on the CSTAT bureau.
Department for International Development (DFID)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of The Government Statistical Service (GSS) engages with the Department for International Development (DFID) on issues relating to international aid and building statistical capacity. The main focus is on the continued development of statistical capacity across the globe and providing technical assistance in support of this to be able to monitor progress against the Millennium Development Goals and national development plans.
