10 Conclusion
184. Levels of public confidence in official statistics
in the UK are worryingly low. The Government's consultation paper
represents a welcome acknowledgement of the need to distance statistical
production and control from politicians. However, the proposals
appear to be in their early stages and require considerably more
work. As the proposals stand, there is a lack of detail about
how they would work in practice and a need for further assessment
of the implications of the various changes proposed.
185. Our main concern with the proposals is their
scope: they are too narrow, and fail to deal with statistics outside
the ONS. Public confidence in the ONS is already higher than it
is in most other government departments, so reform of this part
of the statistical system is likely to have less impact on public
confidence than would reform of statistics produced within other
government departments. The Government proposes strengthening
the National Statistics system by establishing a statutory duty
for the new independent board to assess all existing National
Statistics against a new statutory code of practice. We are concerned
that, by taking this approach while continuing to allow ministers
control over the designation of National Statistics within their
departments, the Government risks both undermining public confidence
in official statistics and missing an opportunity to improve public
confidence. Rather than providing an incentive for ministers to
seek to obtain the National Statistics 'kite-mark of quality'
for all statistics in their departments, the proposed legislation
may act as a disincentive, as ministers may choose to avoid thorough
scrutiny and loss of control by refusing to put their statistics
forward for National Statistics accreditation.
186. The Government's decision to legislate on statistics
is likely to represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform
the statistical system in the UK. For this reason, it is vital
that the Government takes on board the views of the statistics
community, both as expressed to it in the course of its consultation
process and as reflected in the findings of this report, to ensure
that the legislation it introduces has the maximum impact on public
confidence in official statistics. It is public confidence that
will provide the ultimate measure of the success of the Government's
reforms.
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