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{{Infobox government agency
| name = UK Statistics Authority
| native_name = {{lang-gd|Am Bòrd an Staitistig}}<br>{{lang-cy|Y Bwrdd Ystadegau}}
| seal =
| logo = UK Statistics Authority logo.svg
| formed = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2008|04|01}}
| jurisdiction = United Kingdom
| headquarters = 1 Drummond Gate <br> [[London]] <br> SW1V 2QQ<ref>{{cite web |title=Contact Us |url=https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/contact-us/ |website=UK Statistics Authority |access-date=16 January 2020}}</ref>
| employees = 3685<ref name="accounts">{{Cite book|title=UK Statistics Authority Annual Report and Accounts 2017/18|last=UK Statistics Authority.|isbn=9781528605892|location=London|oclc=1053733779|year = 2018}}</ref>
| budget = [[Pound sterling|£]]256m (2018)<ref name="accounts" />
| minister1_name = [[Jeremy Quin]]
| minister1_pfo = [[Minister for the Cabinet Office]]
| chief1_name = [[Robert Chote|Sir Robert Chote]]
| chief1_position = Chair of the UK Statistics Authority
| chief2_name = [[Ian Diamond]]
| chief2_position = [[National Statistician]]
| chief3_name =
| chief3_position =
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| parent_department = [[Cabinet Office]]
| child1_agency = {{flatlist|
* [[Office for National Statistics]]
* [[Government Statistical Service]]
* Office of Statistics Regulation}}
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates}}
{{Use British English}}
The '''UK Statistics Authority''' ('''UKSA''', {{lang-cy|Awdurdod Ystadegau'r DU}}) is a [[non-ministerial government department]] of the [[Government of the United Kingdom]] responsible for oversight of the [[Office for National Statistics]], maintaining a national [[code of practice]] for [[official statistics]], and accrediting statistics that comply with the Code as ''National Statistics''. UKSA was established on 1 April 2008 by the [[Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007]], and is directly accountable to the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]].

== Background ==
[[Gordon Brown]], then [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], announced on 28 November 2005, that the government intended to publish plans in early 2006 to legislate to render the [[Office for National Statistics]] (ONS) and the statistics it generates independent of government on a model based on the independence of the [[Monetary Policy Committee (United Kingdom)|Monetary Policy Committee]] of the [[Bank of England]]. This was originally a 1997 [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] manifesto commitment and was also the policy of the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] and [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] parties. Such independence was also sought by the [[Royal Statistical Society]] and the [[Statistics Commission]]. The [[National Statistician]], who is the chief executive of the ONS, would be directly accountable to Parliament through a widely constituted independent governing Statistics Board. The ONS would be a non-ministerial government department so that the staff, including the Director, would remain as civil servants but without being under direct ministerial control. The National Statistician at the time, [[Karen Dunnell]], stated that the legislation would help improve public trust in official statistics although the ONS already acts independently according to its own published guidelines, the National Statistics Code of Practice, which sets out the key principles and standards that official statisticians, including those in other parts of the [[Government Statistical Service]], are expected to follow and uphold.

The details of the plans for independence were considered in Parliament during the 2006/2007 session and resulted in the [[Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007]]. In July 2007, Sir [[Michael Scholar]] was nominated by the government to be the three-day-a-week non-executive chairman of the Statistics Board which, to re-establish faith in the integrity of government statistics, has statutory responsibility for oversight of UK government statistics and of the Office for National Statistics. It also has a duty to assess all UK government statistics. Following Gordon Brown's later announcement on his 2007 appointment as [[Prime Minister]] of new constitutional arrangements for public appointments, Sir Michael also became, on 18 July, the first such nominee to appear before the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] Treasury Committee and to have his nomination subject to confirmation by the House. On 7 February 2008, following the first meeting of the shadow board, it was announced that the body would be known as the UK Statistics Authority.

UKSA was established on 1 April 2008 by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, and is directly accountable to the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]].<ref>{{Cite legislation UK
| type = act
| year = 2007
| chapter = 18
| number =
| act = Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/archive/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system/history/timeline.html|title=Timeline|website=www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-10-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite legislation UK
| type = si
| chapter =
| number = 839
| si = The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional Provision) Order 2008
}}</ref> It reports to Parliament through the Minister for the Cabinet Office.

== Functions ==

Formally, the UK Statistics Authority has two main functions: a production arm – the Office for National Statistics – and a regulatory arm – the Office for Statistics Regulation.

=== Office for National Statistics ===
The ONS is responsible for collecting, analysing and distributing statistical information about the UK's economy, society and population. It replaces the role previously performed by [[HM Treasury]] ministers.<ref>{{cite web |title=What we do - Office for National Statistics |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/whatwedo |website=www.ons.gov.uk}}</ref>

=== Office for Statistics Regulation ===
The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) performs independent monitoring of official statistics, including assessment of the coverage, completeness and usefulness of statistics in particular areas. The OSR is also responsible for maintaining a Code of Practice for Official Statistics,<ref>{{cite web |title=About the Code |url=https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/the-code/ |website=Code of Practice for Statistics |access-date=3 January 2022}}</ref> and accrediting Code-compliant statistics as 'National Statistics'.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/what-we-do/|title=What we do|work=UK Statistics Authority|access-date=2022-01-03|language=en-GB}}</ref> However, the chair can also act to comment on perceived misuse of official statistics by persons responsible or accountable for them. The assessment function has an operational role of producing reports on code compliance of specific sets of national statistics, and also a role making more strategic recommendations for the improvement of statistical outputs, in terms of both the presentation and coverage of official statistics as well as monitoring public trust in government statistics.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cosstick |first1=Nick |title=Communicating uncertainty to recapture trust in experts - Networks of evidence and expertise for public policy |url=https://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/news/article-communicating-uncertainty/ |website=www.csap.cam.ac.uk |access-date=3 January 2022 }}</ref>

The UKSA has reported on the need to improve commentary supporting the release of official statistics, and the procedures and extent of pre-release access to official statistics by government ministers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Georgiou |first1=Andreas V. |title=Prerelease access to official statistics is not consistent with professional ethics |journal=Statistical Journal of the IAOS |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=317 |doi=10.3233/SJI-200620 |s2cid=219144205 |url=https://content.iospress.com/articles/statistical-journal-of-the-iaos/sji200620 |access-date=3 January 2022 |language=en |issn=1874-7655 |quote=prerelease access by the government was significantly curtailed in the UK in 2017}}</ref> The authority has also produced reports on the impact of cuts to specific statistical activity, such as the citizenship survey, especially where these changes affect users in other bodies. Other reports focus on statistics relating to a particular sector such as health and charities both of which have relevant data collected by more than one government body. A specific stream of work has been on user engagement, identifying the uses of official statistics and the extent to which the needs of users are taken into account by producers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Centre for Applied Data Ethics |url=https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/what-we-do/data-ethics/centre-for-applied-data-ethics/ |website=UK Statistics Authority |access-date=3 January 2022}}</ref>

== Current Board members ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Member
! Current rôle
! Started
|-
|[[Robert Chote|Sir Robert Chote]]|| Chair || 1 June 2022<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sir-robert-chote-appointed-as-chair-of-the-uk-statistics-authority|title=Robert Chote appointed as chair of UKSA|website=Cabinet Office}}</ref>
|-
| Sian Jones || Deputy Chair||1 July 2016<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-statistics-authority-board-appointments|title=UK Statistics Authority: board appointments|website=GOV.UK|language=en|access-date=2019-06-07}}</ref>
|-
| Dr. Jacob Abboud || Non-executive member ||13 February 2023
|-
|[[John Aston (statistician)|Prof. Sir John Aston]]|| Non-executive member ||1 July 2021<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/appointment-of-professor-sir-john-aston-to-the-uk-statistics-authority-board/|title=Appointment of Professor Sir John Aston to the UK Statistics Authority Board|website=UK Statistics Authority}}</ref>
|-
| Richard Dobbs || Non-executive member ||27 May 2020<ref name="statisticsauthority.gov.uk">{{Cite web|url=https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/news/appointment-of-two-new-non-executive-directors-to-the-uk-statistics-authority-board/|title=Appointment of two new Non-Executive Directors to the UK Statistics Authority Board|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-27}}</ref>
|-
|Nora Nanayakkara|| Non-executive member ||1 July 2016<ref name=":1" />
|-
|Prof. Dame [[Carol Propper]] DBE|| Non-executive member ||13 February 2023
|-
| [[David Spiegelhalter|Prof. Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS]] || Non-executive member ||27 May 2020<ref name="statisticsauthority.gov.uk"/>
|-
| Penny Young || Non-executive member ||13 February 2023
|}

=== ''Ex officio'' executive members ===
As well as the nine non-executive members of the Board, there are three civil servants who serve as executive members as a part of their jobs. They are:

* [[Ian Diamond|Prof. Sir Ian Diamond]] FBA FRSE FAcSS, the [[National Statistician]] and head of the [[Government Statistical Service]], took up post 22 October 2019<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/meet-the-board/about-the-national-statistician/|title = The Board}}</ref>
* Ed Humpherson CB, the Authority's Head of Assessment, responsible for the independent assessment of official statistics
* Sam Beckett, second permanent secretary, takes the third executive place on the board which had previously been held on a rotational basis by the deputy national statisticians
The three Office for National Statistics (ONS) Directors General normally attend meetings of the board but are formally not members:<ref name="The Board">{{Cite web|url=http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/meet-the-board/index.html|title=The Board}}</ref>
* Mike Keoghan, ONS Director General and Deputy National Statistician for Economic, Social & Environmental Statistics
* Alison Pritchard, ONS Director General and Deputy National Statistician for Data Capability
* Pete Benton, ONS Director General and Deputy National Statistician for Health, Population & Methods

== Former Board members<ref name="The Board" /> ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Member
! Role
! Started
! End
|-
|[[Jonathan Haskel|Prof. Jonathan Haskel CBE]]|| Non-Executive Director || 1 February 2016 || 1 February 2023
|-
|[[Helen Boaden]]|| Non-Executive Director || 1 June 2019 || 31 December 2022
|-
|[[Anne Trefethen|Prof. Anne Trefethen]] FBCS FREng || Non-Executive Director || 1 June 2018 || 31 December 2022
|-
|[[David Norgrove|Sir David Norgrove]] || Chair || April 2017 || 31 March 2022
|-
|Prof. [[David Hand (statistician)|David Hand]] OBE FBA ||Non-Executive Director ||1 April 2013 || 30 June 2021
|-
|rowspan="2"| [[Adrian Smith (statistician)|Prof. Sir Adrian Smith]] FRS ||rowspan="2"| Non-Executive Director ||1 September 2012 || 31 March 2020
|-
| 1 April 2008 || 1 September 2008
|-
|Prof. Sir [[Ian Diamond]] FBA FRSE || Non-Executive Director ||1 June 2018 || 5 August 2019
|-
| Dr David Levy || Non-Executive Director ||1 August 2012 || 30 May 2019
|-
| Dame [[Colette Bowe]] DBE || Non-Executive Director ||1 April 2008 || 31 March 2018
|-
| Dame [[Moira Gibb]] DBE || Non-Executive Director ||1 February 2008 || 31 January 2018
|-
| [[Andrew Dilnot|Sir Andrew Dilnot CBE]] || Chair ||1 April 2012 || 31 March 2017
|-
| Dame [[Carolyn Fairbairn]] DBE || Non-Executive Director ||1 April 2013 || 30 September 2015
|-
| [[David_William_Rhind|Professor David Rhind CBE]] || Deputy Chair (Statistics System) ||1 July 2012 || 30 June 2015
|-
| Mr Partha Dasgupta || Non-Executive Director ||1 April 2008 || 30 June 2014
|-
| Sir [[Jon Shortridge]] || Non-Executive Director ||1 February 2010 || 30 October 2012
|-
| [[David Rowe-Beddoe|Lord (David) Rowe-Beddoe]] || Deputy Chair (ONS) ||1 April 2008 || 31 August 2012
|-
| Sir [[Michael Scholar]] KCB || Chair ||1 April 2008 || 31 March 2012
|-
| [[Roger Jowell|Professor Sir Roger Jowell CBE]] || Deputy Chair (Statistics System) ||11 November 2008 || 26 December 2011
|-
| Professor [[Stephen Nickell]] CBE FBA || Non-Executive Director ||1 April 2008 || 31 October 2010
|-
| Sir [[Alan Langlands]] FRSE || Non-Executive Director ||1 April 2008 || 12 April 2009
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Official website}}

{{Cabinet Office}}
{{Departments of the United Kingdom Government}}
{{Economy of the United Kingdom}}

[[Category:Non-ministerial departments of the Government of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Office for National Statistics]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 2008]]
[[Category:2008 establishments in the United Kingdom]]

UK Statistics Authority - Revision history

Shekhar124689: Created an inspiring work.