Data | Page 30 | National Statistical

Can social media data improve official statistics? Not yet, suggests new work on tourism

Lanthao Benedikt
February 5, 2019

Categories: Data, Office for National Statistics, ONS

While ONS strategy is focused on making more use of government-held data to improve official statistics , researchers in the Data Science Campus are also exploring the value of social media data. There’s plenty of it and its potential seems obvious. But who is “citizen of the world” and where is “Black Pudding land”? As well as privacy concerns some big limitations in the data need addressing too, conclude Lanthao Benedikt and Emily Tew.

Taking stock of housing statistics

Debra Prestwood
January 29, 2019

Categories: Data, Office for National Statistics, ONS, Public Policy

Statisticians across the UK have been working together to help make housing and planning statistics more coherent and comparable. The…

Looking after and using data for public benefit

Heather Savory
January 16, 2019

Categories: Data, Office for National Statistics, ONS

Improved access to datasets including those held by other government bodies will allow ONS to advance its mission of providing the UK with better statistics for better decisions. But with new data sharing powers comes a heightened responsibility to protect personal information. As revised policies on the use, management and security of data are published Heather Savory explains how ONS is putting the public interest first.

Designing the future of ONS surveys

Laura Wilson
January 10, 2019

Categories: Data, Office for National Statistics, ONS

Social surveys remain vital to the work of ONS – but maintaining response rates is a serious issue for statistical agencies worldwide. To preserve their value and relevance surveys must evolve : how they look, how they work and how they are completed. Here Laura Wilson reveals how ONS is taking on the challenge.

Transforming GDP: Economic statistics for a digital age

Rob Kent-Smith
October 11, 2018

Categories: Business, Data, Economy, Office for National Statistics, ONS

ONS has radical plans to fundamentally update and enhance the way it calculates many of the UK’s key economic statistics. More detailed information about the dominant services sector and more data on smaller firms add up to the biggest overhaul of GDP in a generation, as Rob Kent-Smith reveals.