Monitoring & Assessment

David Duncan-Fraser

www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk

Homelessness Statistics User Group – 18 April 2012

The UK Statistics Authority

UK Statistics Authority – Chair, Andrew Dilnot (April 2012)

Office for National Statistics

•DG Stephen Penneck•Executive Office of the Authority•Major producer of statistics

National Statistician’s Office

•Jil Matheson, National Statistician and Chief Executive•Overall responsibility for ONS•Head of GSS•20 support staff

Monitoring and Assessment

•Richard Alldritt, Head of Assessment•Monitoring statistical matters•Assessment of Official Statistics•30 staff

Monitoring

• Monitoring reports– Migration statistics– Barriers to trust in relation to crime statistics – Strengthening User Engagement– Pre-release access: a review of statutory arrangements

• Monitoring briefs – Knife crime statistics– Gender Pay Gap – Use Made of Official Statistics– Communicating inflation

• “Issues Log”: running record of matters raised with the Authority, on the website

Assessment

• To determine whether the Code of Practice for Statistics has been complied with and to designate the statistics as National Statistics (or not to designate …)– 1,200+ National Statistics

• To help the producers of official statistics to enhance the quality of the statistical service over a period of time

• To communicate to Parliament and the public the extent of compliance with the Code

Assessment – Process

• Evidence collection

– Assessment team research– Written/oral evidence from producers– Survey of users, suppliers, stakeholders

• Analysis, follow-up and quality assurance

• Reporting

• Meeting Requirements and Designation

Assessment – Emerging Findings

• 190+ assessments covering 870 outputs

• Strengths: integrity, methods, confidentiality, and response burden

• Weaknesses:

– to improve the text that accompanies the first release of official statistics

– to better understand and communicate the use made of official statistics

– to improve the documentation of sources and methods– to maximise the use of existing administrative data for

statistical purposes– to improve comparability between some statistics

produced by the four administrations of the UK

Assessment Report 193

• Statistics on the ‘Operation of the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland’

• Good practice found during the assessment:– Valued user engagement and consultation (user framework)– Communication of data quality – timeliness, accuracy and comparability– Useful information about the policy and operational context

• Areas for improvement: – Releases were detailed and overly-descriptive – Not enough information about the comparability of ‘priority assessments’ – Lacked information about the wider context of homelessness

• 4 Requirements and 3 Suggestions for improvement

• Report published on Wednesday 4 April

4 Requirements in AR193Assessment Report 193 - Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland (right click - open hyperlink)

• Necessary as part of the designation as ‘National Statistics’

1. Provide more information about the comparability of the statistics on ‘priority assessments’ between local authority areas (4.2 / 8.1)

2. Report annually the estimated costs to local authorities for responding to the HL1 and HL2 forms, and explore ways to reduce the burden on local authority data suppliers (6.1)

3. Improve the commentary and presentation, and include contextual information, in the releases so that they aid user interpretation of the statistics (8.1 / 8.2)

4. Provide more information about the coherence of the tables in the publication and those in the accompany reference tables to enable users to find the information that need (8.4 / 8.6 / Pt1.2)

3 Suggestions in AR193

• Not necessary for designation, but would improve the statistics and the service provided to users:

1. Provide further information about the forthcoming legislative changes, including what effect it will have on the statistics, and improve the accessibility of this within the release

2. Consider the points detailed in annex 2 (of the AR), in seeking to improve the statistical release (in meeting Requirement 3)

3. Publish records of those who have access to homeless persons statistics prior to their release

Meeting Requirements

• The Scottish Government is due to report by end July 2012

• The Assessment team will consider the evidence that is provided to us and either recommend designation by the board or require more action be done

• If the Requirements cannot be actioned in a reasonable time, the Authority Board may take the decision to ‘de-designate’ the statistics – but this has only happened a couple of times

• The Head of Assessment will then write to the Scottish Government on behalf of the Authority Board, confirming designation as National Statistics (around September 2012)

Next Phase

• Re-assessment?

• The details of the next phase are still to be consulted and agreed on

• Timescales for re-assessment is likely to be influenced by a number of factors:

– Profile of the statistics– Use and importance– Any subsequent issues raised about the statistics

Questions

• Has anyone read the Assessment Report? Based on its findings, and what you’ve heard so far, do you think it is reasonable?

• Do you have any views of the work of the Authority more generally?

• Anything else?

David.Duncan-Fraser@statistics.gsi.gov.ukIain.Russel@statistics.gsi.gov.uk

23 Walker Street, Edinburgh. EH3 7HX0131 226 6209/ 0131 226 6193