National Statistical

Building momentum to deliver further improvements to the quality of our core statistics is the big focus for the Office for National Statistics as we enter the new year. ONS Director General of Surveys and Economic Statistics James Benford looks ahead to some of the planned changes that are due to be rolled out this year to improve the quality of key economic statistics.  

Public Sector Finance estimates are fed by data sources outside the ONS and when one is miscalculated, it affects the overall picture. Here, James Benford talks through the correction published today following HM Revenue & Customs’ identified error, and the steps being taken to improve the sources that feed these important statistics. 

The ONS’s new Director-General for Surveys and Economic and Social Statistics, James Benford, talks through work going on beyond the scenes to improve our statistics after a week with several major releases on the UK economy.

Under new senior leadership the ONS is urgently focusing its resources on core economic statistics as part of a wider strategic recovery plan. In this post, incoming Director General for economic social and environmental statistics James Benford says the recent postponement and correction of the retail sales figures underlines the need for the Office to prioritise and put more resources behind work to improve economic statistics and to bring more transparency on how these plans are progressing.