How the Office for National Statistics is responding to the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic

The Office for National Statistics is gathering vital information on the social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and feeding it into the government to help planning, protect lives and reduce the impact on the economy. Here Iain Bell explains the work ONS are doing to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on our society and economy and what the initial results show.

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Understanding the nature of modern slavery in the UK

Eradicating forced labour, and ending human trafficking, are two key parts of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Sir Bernard Silverman is a leading academic and public servant who has been working on modern slavery for the past decade. Here he explains why the latest work of the Office for National Statistics is crucial in the fight against a brutal crime which denies people their dignity, safety and freedom.

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People matter: improving our estimates of human capital

Alongside the traditional measures of prosperity like GDP, the ONS is at the forefront of an international movement that’s developing new and alternative economic indicators that go beyond simple financial value. Central to this work are the plans to develop new ways of measuring ‘human capital’ that have been unveiled today. Here John Marais makes the case for measuring human capital better.

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