A headline in the Daily Telegraph implied that revisions to the population estimates were the result of a 'blunder'. Roma Chappell wrote to point out that the revisions resulted from improved methodology.
Sir,
Your headline 'Fresh blunder reveals 15,000 more migrants' (May 14, 2010) is misleading. A series of improvements and updates to the methodology and the sources used to estimate the population has resulted in the revisions, not as you state a blunder. Publishing revisions to statistics as a result of improvements is best practice as laid out in the National Statistics Code of Practice and, in line with the Code, these revisions were well-planned and pre-announced.
Yours faithfully,
Roma Chappell
Head of Office for National Statistics Centre for Demography
