ONS

Making progress on improving UK financial statistics

The International Monetary Fund has today recognised that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is fully meeting the Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus, the highest tier of IMF’s data standards.   James Benford and Rebecca Richmond reflect on the new data we are now publishing and how this lays the foundation for further improvements. 

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Making progress on improving UK economic statistics

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today published its second progress update on its Economic Statistics Plan (ESP) and Survey Improvement and Enhancement Plan (SIEP). The two plans were launched in June 2025 to improve the quality and long-term sustainability of the UK’s core economic statistics. James Benford reflects on a period of continuing tangible improvements, the challenges we have encountered and how we are responding across the breadth of work. 

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Supermarket Sweep: Measuring inflation with billion of bleeps

The latest episode of the Statistically Speaking podcast reveals how the ONS is now measuring UK consumer price inflation with data gathered from supermarket checkouts. Our guests explain why it’s a step change in the production of this vital economic indicator that broadens our understanding of the real cost of the living.

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