New work to fill evidence gaps on disability, job quality and domestic abuse are among the projects delivered by ONS Public Policy Analysis in recent months. For Liz McKeown, the ability to work collaboratively across government and beyond is key to providing new insight on topics that matter.
Read more on Filling Key Evidence Gaps: Public Policy Quarterly Review
2019 was another big year for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), filled with better data, new headlines and exciting…
Read more on Stats that then! A look back at 2019
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”.
Read more on Missing capitals – How ONS measures the value of our environment
Productivity has been a topic of great interest in recent years, especially because of the well-known ‘productivity puzzle’ – the historically weak productivity growth in the UK since the economic downturn in 2008.
But if that is a puzzle, here is another one – how do you measure the productivity of public services, like education or healthcare, when they are provided for free? Since 2005, ONS has developed suitable measures for over half of public services, but there is still much to do. In this blog Josh Martin explains how the ONS measures the productivity of public services.
Read more on The hardest part of productivity measurement
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.
Read more on How ONS plans to provide new analysis on the core issues facing our society