Statistical Officer / Government Statistical Service (GSS) Assessment Official Statistics: Governance, Ethics and Quality Syllabus

Official Statistics: Governance, Ethics and Quality syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Official Statistics: Governance, Ethics and Quality in Statistical Officer / Government Statistical Service (GSS) Assessment, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Legal and Institutional Framework

   3 topics

   • The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007
     • Creation of the UK Statistics Authority
     • Statutory objective to promote and safeguard official statistics
   • Roles and oversight bodies
     • UK Statistics Authority Board and the National Statistician
     • Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) as the regulatory arm
   • Designations of statistics
     • Official statistics versus National Statistics (accredited official statistics)
     • Experimental and ad hoc statistics
2. 2

   The Code of Practice for Statistics

   3 topics

   • The three pillars
     • Trustworthiness
     • Quality
     • Value
   • Key principles in practice
     • Orderly release and the pre-release access rules
     • Transparency, equal access and the 9:30am publication convention
     • Sound methods and assured quality
   • Compliance and breaches
     • How OSR assesses compliance
     • Handling and reporting breaches of the Code
3. 3

   Data Ethics and Confidentiality

   3 topics

   • Statistical disclosure control
     • Identifying disclosure risk in outputs
     • Rounding, suppression and perturbation methods
   • Data protection and legal duties
     • UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018
     • The five safes framework for secure data access
   • Ethical use of data
     • The UK Statistics Authority data ethics self-assessment
     • Public good, consent and proportionality
4. 4

   Quality Assurance

   3 topics

   • Dimensions of statistical quality
     • Relevance, accuracy, timeliness and accessibility
     • Coherence and comparability
   • Quality assurance of administrative data
     • The QAAD (Quality Assurance of Administrative Data) toolkit
     • Assessing risk and assurance levels
   • Communicating quality and uncertainty
     • Uncertainty toolkit and confidence intervals in publications
     • Revisions policy and explaining changes

Official Statistics: Governance, Ethics and Quality flashcards for Statistical Officer / Government Statistical Service (GSS) Assessment

20 of 52 cards from the Official Statistics: Governance, Ethics and Quality deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What did the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 establish, and when did it come into force?

   It established the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) as an independent statutory body, accountable directly to Parliament rather than to Ministers. The main provisions came into force on 1 April 2008.

2. What is the statutory objective of the UK Statistics Authority under the 2007 Act?

   To promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good, and to promote and safeguard the quality and comprehensiveness of those statistics and good practice in relation to them.

3. Define 'official statistics' as set out in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

   Statistics produced by Crown bodies (including the ONS), government departments, devolved administrations, and other bodies specified by Order under the Act. They are produced for public benefit and cover a wide range of economic, social and demographic topics.

4. What three distinct functions did the 2007 Act bring together under the UK Statistics Authority?

   (1) Production of statistics (delivered mainly by the ONS); (2) the independent assessment/monitoring and regulation of statistics (delivered by the OSR); and (3) governance/oversight by the Authority Board.

5. What is the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and its relationship to the UK Statistics Authority?

   The ONS is the UK's largest producer of official statistics and the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority. It is responsible for collecting, compiling, analysing and disseminating economic, social and population statistics, including the census in England and Wales.

6. What is the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and what is its core role?

   The OSR is the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority. It sets standards through the Code of Practice for Statistics, assesses compliance, awards/removes the National Statistics designation, and acts as the public's statistical 'watchdog'.

7. Who heads the Office for Statistics Regulation, and what is that role called?

   The OSR is led by the Director General for Regulation, who reports to the UK Statistics Authority Board and is responsible for independent regulation of all official statistics across the UK.

8. What is the role of the National Statistician?

   The National Statistician is the UK Statistics Authority's chief executive and principal statistical adviser to the Authority, the UK government and the devolved administrations, and is also Head of the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and the ONS.

9. What is the Government Statistical Service (GSS)?

   A cross-government community of all those involved in producing official statistics across UK departments, agencies and devolved administrations. It is led by the National Statistician and aims to deliver high-quality statistics, analysis and advice.

10. How does the UK Statistics Authority maintain its independence from government?

    It is a non-ministerial department accountable directly to Parliament (and devolved legislatures), not to Ministers. Its Board is chaired by a non-executive appointed independently, which protects statistics from political interference.

11. Compare the roles of the ONS and the OSR within the UK Statistics Authority.

    The ONS is the producer (it makes statistics); the OSR is the regulator (it independently judges whether statistics meet the Code of Practice). Separating production from regulation safeguards trustworthiness and avoids conflicts of interest.

12. What are the two formal designations a statistic can hold under the UK system, and which is the higher standard?

    'Official Statistics' (the broad category, must comply with the Code) and 'Accredited Official Statistics' (the higher standard, formerly called 'National Statistics'). Accreditation is the badge of full compliance with the Code of Practice.

13. What was the 'National Statistics' designation renamed to, and what does it now signify?

    It was renamed 'Accredited Official Statistics'. The designation signifies that the OSR has independently assessed the statistics as fully compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics — meeting the highest standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value.

14. What are 'official statistics in development' (formerly 'experimental statistics')?

    New or innovative official statistics that are still being developed and tested. They are published to involve users and build the evidence base, but are not yet accredited and should be clearly labelled as in development.

15. Who can award and who can remove the Accredited Official Statistics (National Statistics) designation?

    Only the Office for Statistics Regulation, on behalf of the UK Statistics Authority Board, can award the accreditation (following assessment) or remove it if the statistics no longer comply with the Code of Practice.

16. Name the three pillars of the Code of Practice for Statistics.

    Trustworthiness, Quality and Value (often abbreviated TQV).

17. What does the 'Trustworthiness' pillar of the Code of Practice for Statistics cover?

    Confidence in the people and organisations that produce statistics — covering honesty, integrity, independence from political influence, transparency of methods and decisions, sound governance, and protection of confidential data.

18. What does the 'Quality' pillar of the Code of Practice for Statistics cover?

    Statistics that fit their intended uses, are based on appropriate data and sound methods, and are managed impartially and objectively. It covers suitable data sources, sound methods, and assured quality.

19. What does the 'Value' pillar of the Code of Practice for Statistics cover?

    Statistics that support society's need for information — being relevant to users, accessible, clearly explained, and providing insight that meets users' needs and serves the public good.

20. List the three principles that sit under the Trustworthiness pillar.

    T1 Honesty and integrity; T2 Independent decision making and leadership; T3 Orderly release. (The Trustworthiness pillar in full also includes transparent processes and management, professional capability, data governance — but the core release principle is Orderly Release.)

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