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Office for National Statistics



The Office for National Statistics collaborates with the University of Southampton in the teaching of a MSc in Official Statistics, the programme has been in running since 2003.[20]

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Office Locations

ONS London office, 1 Drummond Gate
ONS London office, 1 Drummond Gate

The ONS has a head office in the city of Newport, South Wales, and other offices in Pimlico in London, Titchfield in Hampshire and Southport[21]. In addition, there is the Family Records Centre in Islington[21], London, where censuses over 100 years old, electoral registers and indexes to the registers of births, deaths and marriages in England and Wales may be consulted, and copies of census entries and certificates can be purchased.

The London office was the head office until April 2006 when the corporate headquarters was moved to Newport[22] following the Lyons Review[23] on public sector relocation. Initially, the London office was in three buildings but due to reductions, most London staff are now in 1 Drummond Gate. The main London office is expected to close by April 2010 by which time the ONS policy is for its statistical activities to be concentrated in Titchfield and Newport [24] The ONS asserts that recruitment and training of quality staff in South Wales, where data collection and analysis already takes place, will ensure that there is no risk to the quality of its services and that it is managing the risks associated with the changes which it is implementing in a planned and gradual way[25]. However the plan to discontinue all remaining statistical activity in London is proving controversial amid claims that the shift of functions from London and the impending closure of the London office could have serious implications for the future of certain particular sets of statistics. These include health statistics, National Accounts, Retail and Consumer Prices and Labour Market Statistics. These risks derive from the fact that few of the experienced staff working in these highly technical areas are expected to be willing to relocate to Newport, resulting in a substantial loss of expertise and a consequent threat to the continued quality of the statistics[26]. In a submission to the Parliamentary Treasury Sub Committee, the Bank of England too has expressed concern over the relocation of the ONS to Newport, saying, that "the relocation programme poses serious risks to the maintenance of the quality of macroeconomic data. If substantial numbers of ONS staff are unwilling to relocate, the loss of skilled individuals could have a severe impact on a range of statistics."[27][28]. The director of ONS has vigorously defended ONS implementation of government policy on civil service relocation and the decision to concentrate staff in the three locations outside London[29].

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Criticism of the ONS

Len Cook, when National Statistician, described himself as the country's most abused civil servant[30]. Occasional errors and revisions accounts for some past criticism while the allocation of Private Finance Initiative expenditure (albeit following OECD and international statistical guidelines according to who carries the risk) has attracted political attention.

Many of the most controversial topics for statistics issued by government do not come from ONS though they are expected to meet National Statistics standards. Crime statistics and other data (e.g. health and education) that could be deemed to assess the effectiveness of government policies often attract media scepticism. The compulsory nature of the census (unlike most other surveys by academics and market researchers) differentiates ONS from other data collectors (apart from the Inland Revenue). The Office for National Statistics won the 2004 Big Brother Award for the "Most Heinous Government Organisation" from the campaigning organisation Privacy International for its Citizen Information Project. The project is one of several that lead the Government's own Information Commissioner to warn that there is a danger of the country "sleepwalking" into a surveillance society[31]. There has also been criticism of the ONS and of the government for its pursuit of government policies for modernization and for relocation to sites outside London. It is not moving to a single site and will continue to perform most of its functions from the 2 sites in Newport and Titchfield while reducing its London operation to one eventual small location.

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See also

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External links

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References

  1. ^ 'National Statistics Institute' and NSI are a standard expression and its acronym used about statistical services in OECD & EU terminology
  2. ^ John Pullinger (1997) "The Creation of the Office for National Statistics", International Statistical Review, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 291-308
  3. ^ http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/independence/thestatisticsact.asp
  4. ^ Statement to the House of Commons on the review of the Framework for National Statistics, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 28 November 2005.
  5. ^ Budget Statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 22 March 2006
  6. ^ Labour Party Manifesto, General Election 1997, Keele University website.
  7. ^ Liberal Democrats Manifesto General Election 2005.
  8. ^ "Let Parliament appoint new UK statistics chief", press release from Conservative Party website.
  9. ^ "A Vision for National Statistics", Royal Statistical Society.
  10. ^ "Legislation to build trust in statistics", a report by the Statistics Commission.
  11. ^ "Statistics And Registration Service Bill", House of Commons Explanatory Note to the Bill, para. 7-8. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
  12. ^ "Statistics And Registration Service Bill", House of Commons Explanatory Note to the Bill, para. 42. Retrieved 10 June 2007.
  13. ^ "National Statistician welcomes Statistics and Registration Service Bill", news release from ONS website.
  14. ^ "National Statistics Code of Practice" ONS website
  15. ^ "Statistics and Registration Service Bill", progress of the Bill through the UK Parliament from Parliament website.
  16. ^ "Whitehall veteran in frame for statistics chief post", Financial Times, 18 July 2007.
  17. ^ New United Kingdom Statistics Authority starts operations PublicTechnology.net, 8 February, 2008
  18. ^ "National Statistician - Director Office for National Statistics", 10 Downing Street press notice, 4 August 2005, retrieved 9 June 2007.
  19. ^ United Kingdom National Accounts - The Blue Book 2006
  20. ^ MSc in Official Statistics, University of Southampton.
  21. ^ a b Office for National Statistics: location maps, www.statistics.gov.uk, retrieved 10 June 2007.
  22. ^ "Newport to be ONS headquarters", National Statistics news release, 20 September 2004, retrieved 9 June 2007.
  23. ^ "The Lyons Review: Independent Review of public sector relocation", HM Treasury website.
  24. ^ "ONS set to close down London HQ", news report from the BBC website.
  25. ^ "Stats staff 'quitting' over move", news report from the BBC website, 14 May 2007.
  26. ^ Debate on the Statistics and Registration Service Bill in the House of Lords, 24 April 2007, Hansard, Column 597.
  27. ^ "Bank of England comments on recent ONS performance", a submission made by the Bank of England to the Treasury Sub-Committee inquiry into progress on the efficiency programme in the Chancellor's departments, May 2007.
  28. ^ "Bank warns on ONS move to Wales", news report from the BBC website, 10 May 2007.
  29. ^ "Statistics officers get the measure of relocation", article by Karen Dunnell, Financial Times, 4 June 2007, retrieved 7 June 2007.
  30. ^ Minutes of evidence given before the Select Committee on Treasury, 30 October 2002.
  31. ^ "Beware rise of Big Brother state, warns data watchdog", Times Online, 16 August 2004.



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