Commission Meeting: 22/11/07 - Chief executive's report - SC/2007/31

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT – November 2007

Action: T o note progress and consider the need for action.

1.  The Cabinet Office issued an advertisement for non-executive directors of the Statistics Board in late September; the closing date was 17 October. We are currently assuming final interviews and announcements will be before Christmas.  We understand that the first meeting of the shadow Board will be in January 2008. Whilst there will be only three months in which both the shadow Board and the Commission will be in operation, there may still be a few questions of co-ordination to consider. The secretariat will discuss with ONS.

2.  On 18 October the Treasury Committee published the Government’s response to its report on the appointment of the chair of the Statistics Board.

3. The president of the Royal Statistical Society has written to Baroness Noakes, and others in the House of Lords, concerning the future arrangements for parliamentary oversight of statistical matters and expressing support for a joint committee of both Houses.  However, we have been told that there is not much support for such a committee within the House of Commons.

4.  Proposals for the secondary legislation on pre-release access are being developed in both Whitehall and Scotland and the secretariat has been involved in some informal exchanges about their content. There may be a text issued for consultation before the Commission meeting on 22 November.

5.  The Commission published its report (no.35) Proposals for a Code of Practice for Official Statistics on 2 October and sent out over 70 copies. We have received positive feedback from various individuals. The chief executive will also be participating in the session ‘Shaping the statutory Code’ at the GSS Leaders in Statistics conference on the afternoon of 22 November.  The way forward on the Code is now a matter for the Statistics Board.

6.  The Commission secretariat has been involved in some trial assessment work that ONS is undertaking. This makes some use of the Commission’s draft of the Code but is close in style to the process of assessment against the European Code.

7.  The chief executive will also attend (on 6 December) a meeting with Eurostat’s Deputy Director General, ONS officials and others who were involved in drafting the European Statistics Code to discuss experience with European assessment work.

8. On 25 September , the chief executive attended, along with two representatives of the Statistics Users Forum, a meeting as part of the peer review of ONS under the European Code. The review team concentrated on the new governance arrangements, in particular the National Statistician’s role and authority, the future Board’s relationship with other departments and devolved administrations, the role of the media and the reasons for low levels of public trust.

9. On 31 October the Government announced that it had underestimated the increase in the number of foreign nationals in employment since 1997, and revised the estimate from 800,000 to 1.1 million. The estimates are based on the Labour Force Survey (and are the difference between a 2007 estimate and a 1997 estimate, grossed up to tally with an estimate of the 2007 working population based on 2003 projections). They are thus dependent on a lot of assumptions. The new figure has been called into question by the opposition, and the Statistics Commission subsequently received a letter from Frank Field MP asking for clarification. The Government statement received considerable coverage in the press, and the Commission was contacted by various journalists on the day. Martin Weale appeared in news pieces on Channel 4 and Newsnight, he was also quoted at length in the printed press and The Daily Telegraph published a short commentary piece. The chief executive was also quoted, with variable accuracy, in The Guardian. 

10.  The chairman wrote to the National Statistician on 2 November 2007 asking ONS to resolve the confusion over the figures by publishing its best estimates of the number of foreign workers in employment and that quantity as a proportion of the total workforce, and how these two quantities have changed since 1997. The secretariat also contacted the Department for Work and Pensions and is preparing a note on the issue which will be posted on our website (see also SC/2007/34 to be considered at Item 7 of the agenda).

11. The Commission published its report no. 36 Counting on Success: The 2011 Census – Managing the Risks on 8 November and sent out hard copies to some 80 stakeholders.There was some coverage in the Financial Times on 9 November which picked up the arguments for 2011 being the last Census of a traditional kind. 

12.  In September, the chairman made a submission to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the economic impact of immigration, stressing the needs for a better recording system for migration and better coordination between ONS and other parts of government. The secretariat has drafted a submission to the Treasury Select Committee’s inquiry into ‘Counting the Population’ – SC/2007/32, Item 5 on the Agenda. The inquiry will consider in particular the uses of population estimates and the impact of any inaccuracies or inadequacies in population statistics as well as the role of and preparation for the 2011 Census and cooperation between ONS and its stakeholders.

13.  The Commission’s report no. 37 Tax Records as a Statistical Resource: A Review was published on 14 November in time for the annual SUF conference on 15 November which had the theme ‘Statistics on income, earnings and wealth. Where do they come from and why do we need them’. Hard copies of the report were distributed to stakeholders with a covering letter. 

14.  The Commission plans to publish two more reports (plus a less formal report on the History of the Commission, and also draft the text for a final Annual Report) before closing down, though the format and timing of any of these may be affected by staffing levels in the secretariat. 

15. A progress update on the Review of Statistical First Releases, has been circulated (SC/2007/33, Item 6 on the agenda). 

16.  There have been only minor editing changes to our ‘exaugural’ report Official Statistics:Value and Trust since the last draft was circulated. However material on international contrasts and parallels has been prepared for inclusion in an annex.  We are aiming to give this high priority in the next few weeks and circulate a revised draft for final comment and then have it prepared by designers around Christmas with a view to final agreement and publication in January.

17.  The draft History of the Statistics Commission will be circulated to Commission members around the new year; we intend to publish this in some form towards the end of the Commission’s existence. 

18.  We will also aim to prepare the text and tables for a final Commission Annual Report for this financial year, though this will be less full than in previous years, not least due to the absence of forward looking material.

19. Isabelle Low attended the first Scottish Government Annual Statistics Stakeholder Conference on 7 October in Edinburgh, organised by Scotstat, a network of users and providers of Scottish statistics.  She noted that there was a lively debate about better and more use of statistics, in particular a discussion on the new, improved neighbourhood statistics website.

20.  The Statistics User Forum held its annual conference on Thursday, 15 November, supported by Statistics Commission sponsorship. Sir Michael Scholar opened the conference and was followed by contributions from a wide range of speakers.

21. After formal consideration of proposals, the Commission is providing funding of £2,000 for the New Health Statistics Conference which will be held at the RSS on 30 November. The aim of the event is to bring together those who are new to health information and statistics with experts in the field. The conference will address a number of topics including how health data are collected and held by different organisations and how users can access the various sources of data and what factors need to be taken into account when using the information. 

22. The chief executive chaired an RSS public meeting on 18 October on the ONS consultation on its forward work plans – under the title ‘ ONS statistical priorities and engagement with the Statistics Board’. There were speakers from SUF, the Bank of England, the Local Government Association and ONS.

23. The chairman and chief executive visited the director and deputy director at the US Census Bureau, as well as the director of the Committee on National Statistics (CNStat) and the US Chief Statistician at the Office of Management and Budget in Washington. A report of the visit has been circulated and we are planning to incorporate some of the material into the Commission’s Value and Trust report.

24. The chief executive gave a presentation in Cambridge to a delegation of 25 officials from the China National Statistics Bureau on the themes of statistical integrity, quality issues and oversight of the statistical system in the UK. This was well received.

25.  As at 31 October 2007 outturn for the year to 31 March 2008 is forecast to be £1,250,000 compared to grant in aid available of £1,350,000. This may change depending on when staff leave the secretariat.

 

Update on wind up

26. Dilapidations costs for the Artillery Row premises have been agreed with the landlord at £24,000  - substantially less that originally quoted. All suppliers have now been notified of termination of contracts and work on other tasks continues to ensure a smooth wind up. The remaining secretariat staff will leave the Artillery Row offices on 31 January 2008. Temporary accommodation will be provided in HM Treasury for the remaining two months.

27. We aim to produce one more Chief Executive’s Report, ahead of the meeting on 17 January 2008.

 

Note:

Copies of all correspondence referred to above are made available to Commissioners at Commission meetings.