This is a House of Commons Committee report, with recommendations to government. The Government has two months to respond.
Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base
Date Published: 24 May 2024
This is the report summary, read the full report.
Good evidence empowers us all. In government, good evidence can help Ministers in delivering their commitments to the electorate, in strengthening critical public services, and in growing the UK economy. Citizens rely on robust official evidence when they cast their votes, and when they make decisions about the schools their children attend or where they choose to live. Whether in business, research, or a third sector organisation–individuals and organisations across the UK all depend on good evidence.
In recent years, the UK’s data landscape has changed dramatically. An explosion in the volume of data available, alongside the emergence of technologies capable of unlocking these data, offer the opportunity to radically improve the quality of evidence available in the UK. Our inquiry suggests, however, that public institutions are yet to grasp this opportunity, or to deliver citizens the evidence base they deserve.
The single most important step the UK could take to improve its evidence base would be to think more carefully and collaboratively about what evidence our country needs. Currently, countless bodies across government take decisions about what information to collect, analyse and communicate, often based on their own very specific priorities, and sometimes in isolation. As a result, there are many important questions we cannot answer satisfactorily. How does the performance of health services vary across the four nations of the UK, for example? Or, how did the Covid-19 pandemic impact attendance in schools?
Our report recommends that the UK establish a new framework for identifying and prioritising demands for data, one which is rooted in the understanding that evidence is for all, rather than for the government of the day. We endorse recent proposals from Professor Denise Lievesley, regarding the establishment of a standing Assembly to gather and publicly report on demands for evidence, and also recommend that the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) play an enhanced role in highlighting data gaps across the UK.
To meet these demands for data, the Government must then do what is has been promising to do for almost a decade; it must join-up the UK’s public evidence base. Witnesses to our inquiry were unanimous in their view that the power of evidence is not to be found in any one source, but rather in the joining-together of data. But over seven years since the Digital Economy Act 2017 passed, statisticians and researchers are still unable to bring together data in the way good evidence requires.
Our report recommends that the Cabinet Office, in partnership with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), develop a comprehensive new programme to improve data-sharing for statistical and research purposes, which clearly defines deliverables and responsibilities, and allows for external scrutiny. We also recommend that HM Treasury ensure that funding arrangements do not in future disincentivise data-sharing, and that the ONS be more open about the data it requests.
Until the Government resolves these longstanding issues around data-sharing, it will not be possible for the UK to deliver its citizens the evidence they need without a traditional census. Our report therefore recommends that the ONS review its recent proposals for the future of population and migration statistics, which had recommended that these statistics in future be drawn primarily from administrative data.
Of course, even the best, most joined-up evidence in the world is only truly valuable when it is put to good use. Based on the evidence we have seen, it is not clear that Ministers and senior leaders have full and high-quality evidence to hand when decisions are made. And often, when Government makes major policy announcements, it chooses to do so either without any underpinning analyses, or with reference to numbers which bear no resemblance to published evidence.
This report recommends that Government in future proactively publish evidence when announcing major policy decisions. It is our firm belief that this course of action is likely to benefit all involved–governments who are seeking to make the case for a new policy, as well as those citizens who wish to understand the Government’s plans, or to scrutinise their subsequent delivery of policy. We also ask the Office for Statistics Regulation to prepare an annual report-card on departments’ compliance with its Intelligent Transparency guidance, so that Parliament might support it in its commendable ambition to open up access to evidence.
Finally, as the UK seeks to improve the way it collects, analyses and uses data, it must also work carefully to protect the privacy of citizens, and to ensure that its use of data does not run ahead of public appetite. Perhaps contrary to expectations, it appears that members of the public often support the use of their data in evidence where clear benefits can be gained, and where those benefits are seen to be shared equitably. Our report recommends that the public sector consolidate the excellent early work that has taken place in the field of data ethics, and encourages a wider adoption of ethical principles across government.