FOI reference: FOI-2026-3657
You asked
The House of Lords’ Special Report of Session 2024-26 by the Malvern Hills Bill Select Committee makes the following statement in paragraph 10.
“The Trust has been classified as a public body by the Office for National Statistics. But that reflects no more than the fact that it is a formally established and publicly funded organisation whose function is to serve the general interest of the area. That classification was undertaken purely for the purpose of compiling statistics. The expression ‘public body’ has no universal meaning.”
Can you please tell me the following:
Whether or not you classified the Malvern Hills Conservators as a public body because it is no more than a formally established and publicly funded organisation whose function is to serve the general interest of the area;
Whether or not you classified the Malvern Hills Conservators as a public body purely for the purpose of compiling statistics; and
Whether or not your classification of a “public body” has no universal meaning.
We said
Thank you for your request.
Malvern Hills Trust (MHT), the working name of the Malvern Hills Conservators, was classified to the local government subsector (S.1313) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 22 May 2025. We have therefore classified MHT within the public sector for economic statistics purposes.
The classification assessment concluded that MHT had the requisite autonomy of decision to be an institutional unit and was subject to public sector control as local government appointees held the majority of the voting interest. MHT was also considered to be a non-market producer, as the majority of its income does not come from sales. The classification was effective from 28 July 1884, the date the Malvern Hills Act 1884 received Royal Assent. Information on the classification of MHT can be found in our Public Sector Classification Guide, on the 'Organisation|Institutional Unit' tab. The outcome of this classification assessment is that MHT's economic activity is captured within the local government subsector in our economic statistics.
We are an independent, non-ministerial department that is responsible for producing trusted statistics about the UK economy and society. Economic Statistics Classifications decisions are made for the purpose of ensuring the correct treatment of bodies within the compilation of economic statistics, including the UK National Accounts and related statistics. The terminology used in this process is consistent with international statistical manuals including the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008), the 2010 European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) and the Manual on Government Deficit and Debt 2022.
The international statistical manuals do not allow for consideration of political or commercial significance when making classification decisions. Other government departments may use our decisions for the purposes of budgeting and accounting. Our role, as an independent statistical office, is to ensure that classification decisions are robust and fully consistent with the international statistical guidance.
We do not use the term "public body". Our classification process assesses whether organisations are under public sector control, and therefore which sector of the UK economy they should be included in for economic statistics purposes. This is in line with the international statistical guidance in SNA 2008 4.80 and ESA 2010 2.38. Cabinet Office have a separate process for the administrative classification of public bodies. More information on this can be found on their public bodies guidance pages.