Transforming R&D statistics on Government-funded research & development

Antibody testing

We have already blogged about how the UK’s statistics on research and development (R&D) are the subject of a programme of fundamental transformation. We are improving our main survey to capture a much wider group of businesses to better reflect the true extent of R&D undertaken in the UK. Now we also improving our measurement of R&D undertaken by the UK government and its agencies. Heather Bovill talks about how we are improving these estimates of what R&D the government is paying for and, importantly, where it is taking place.

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Disability: When the numbers alone are simply not enough 

The most recent estimates suggest one in five people in the UK are disabled. But to really understand the nature of those disabilities and the needs of people reporting them we need to do a lot more work.   

In this episode of Statistically Speaking we look at what’s being done to gain insight into the lives of disabled children and adults and provide high quality qualitative data that reflects the day-to-day lives of all people in our society.  

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Transforming the Labour Force Survey

Worker in a factory environment

The ONS Labour Force Survey is one of the UK’s biggest regular household surveys and a key source of economic data. Providing detailed insight on employment and economic activity down to local level, the survey is the foundation stone of official monthly employment statistics. Last year we unveiled plans to transform this important data source. Alex Lambert updates on progress so far – and reveals when the new-look data will be available.  

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New ways to access Census 2021 data

Crowds of people walking through a busy street

At the Office for National Statistics, we want to give you the power to find and compare all the combinations of data you want from Census 2021. We have now released billions of statistics from the information you gave us in response to the Census. Here Jen Woolford explains how ‘Create a custom dataset’ is a unique innovation for official statistics and how it is just one of the products coming this year to help you find the data you want. 

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