Data

Understanding highest educational qualification: The case for using Administrative Data

Categories: Data, Office for National Statistics

Asking people in a survey to recall their education can be problematic, especially where that recall can go back decades. Could using data sources already held by government departments help improve the quality of our statistics on educational attainment? At the ONS we are uniquely placed to be able to harness the potential of these data sources and a key example is some of the work we’ve been able to do through accessing administrative data from the Department for Education.  Here, Brogan Taylor explains how the new work is taking the ONS a step closer towards being able to analyse education qualifications more frequently than in the census.

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‘Shining a light on society’ – innovating to answer big policy questions

Categories: Data, Public Policy Analysis Quarterly Review

Award-winning work on homelessness, world-leading progress in measuring sustainable development and the transformation of the UK’s migration estimates are just three current projects in ONS Public Policy Analysis.  They show how the ONS is uniquely placed to harness the potential of new data sources and answer important questions facing Britain today.

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Statistics are a global power for public good

Categories: Data, Office for National Statistics, Office for Statistics Regulation, ONS, UK Statistics Authority

The Office for National Statistics are leading an international project to begin to define the true value for official statistics around the world.  Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation at the UK Statistics Authority, reflects on why this is important and how it could help to transform evidence based decision making on an international scale.

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Missing capitals – How ONS measures the value of our environment

Categories: Data, ONS, Public Policy

Traditional methods of measuring the economy tend to exclude the value of some of our most important assets. At the Office for National Statistics we have been working to develop measures of these so-called ‘missing capitals’. Top of that list is the thing that sustains all activity on our planet; the natural environment. Dr Adam Dutton explains how the ONS is part of a growing international movement that is seeking to find the economic value of our “Natural Capital”.

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How ONS plans to provide new analysis on the core issues facing our society

Categories: Data, ONS, Population, Public Policy, Public Policy Analysis Quarterly Review

The ONS’ Population and Public Policy team has delivered many new insights over the past two years on the key issues facing our society today. Here, Deputy National Statistician Iain Bell reflects on some of the progress made and sets out his priorities for the coming months, which includes important work on towns and cities, further analysis of our ageing population and the continued modernisation of surveys.

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