New code of practice for official UK statistics

UK— The UK Statistics Authority has published a code of practice which it hopes will provide an assurance of quality for official figures.

The independent authority, set up in April 2008, is aiming to rebuild public trust in national statistics. It has already taken the government to task over the spinning of figures on controversial topics including knife crime and immigration.

The code was the subject of a public consultation between July and September 2008, and comes accompanied with a new ‘National Statistics’ stamp of approval, which will only be carried by statistics that comply with the code.

Michael Scholar, chairman of the authority said: “I believe the new code of practice will help the many producers of UK official statistics to collect, explain and release those statistics in ways that build public trust and confidence in the statistical system as a whole.”

The code can be viewed online here.

Author: Robert Bain

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