The Statistics Commission was a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of ...

established in June 2000 by the

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to oversee the work of the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for ...

."Framework for National Statistics", First Edition, Operational from June 2000
/ref> H.M. Treasury press release announcing outcome of White Paper and creation of the Commission
/ref> Its chairman was Professor David Rhind who succeeded the first chairman,

Sir John Kingman __NOTOC__ Sir John Frank Charles Kingman (born 28 August 1939) is a British mathematician. He served as N. M. Rothschild and Sons Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Director of the Isaac Newton Institute at the University of Cambridge f ...

, in May 2003.List of Statistics Commissioners
/ref> Although it was non-departmental, the commission was funded by

grant-in-aid A grant-in-aid is money coming from a central government for a specific project. Such funding is usually used when the government and the legislature decide that the recipient should be publicly funded but operate with reasonable independence ...

from the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or ...

.Frequently-asked-questions on the Commission's website
/ref> Following the implementation of the Statistics & Registration Services Act 2007, the commission was abolished. Its functions were to be taken over and considerably enhanced by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), whose powers began on 1 April 2008 under the chairmanship of Sir

Michael Scholar Sir Michael Charles Scholar, KCB (born 3 January 1942) is a British civil servant and former President of St John's College, Oxford. Personal Life and Education He was educated at St Olave's Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge ( BA ...

. Professor Rhind is among the non-executive members of the new authority, to which the ONS is accountable. This contrasts with the duties of the previous Commission which were limited to reporting, observing and criticizing ONS while it, until 2008, has been publicly accountable via a Treasury minister.

History

The Commission arose from an

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

commitment by the Labour Government whilst in Opposition to provide independent national statistics. The commitment was implemented by the Government first publishing a

Green Paper In the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth countries, Hong Kong, the United States and the European Union, a green paper is a tentative government report and consultation document of policy proposals for debate and discussion. A green paper represent ...

in 1998 inviting consultation which offered four options for overseeing the production of statistics for ministers. The subsequent

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...

revealed that, of those four options, the one which received significantly more support than the others was the establishment of a Commission Consequently, in drawing up the new framework for national statistics,Treasury announcement of the Framework document
/ref> the Statistics Commission was established. Its main function is to :''"...give independent, reliable and relevant advice on National Statistics to Ministers and, by so doing, to provide an additional safeguard on the quality and integrity of National Statistics."'' The white paper charged the commission with four principal aims: *To consider and comment to government on National Statistics's programme and scope of work *To comment on National Statistics's quality assurance processes and to arrange

audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...

s where it finds concern *To comment on the application of the code of practice for official statistics *To prepare for the UK

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an annual report on National Statistics and the Commission

Commissioners

The last commissioners were: * Professor David Rhind, formerly

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...

and President of City University, London *Ian Beesley, a retired senior partner at

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and Fellow of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

*Sir Kenneth Calman, Vice-Chancellor and Warden of the

University of Durham , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_ch ...

*Janet Trewsdale, chairman of the Northern Ireland Economic Council * Sir Derek Wanless, formerly a director of Northern Rock plc * Colette Bowe, chairman of the

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

Consumer Panel * Patricia Hodgson, governor of the Wellcome Foundation and

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of ...

of the Competition Commission * Martin Weale, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research * Joly Dixon, a retired director at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

and Fellow of the

The chief executive was Richard Alldritt

References

"Framework for National Statistics", First Edition, Operational from June 2000H.M. Treasury press release announcing outcome of White Paper and creation of the Commission

List of Statistics Commissioners

Frequently-asked-questions on the Commission's website
# #{{cite book, author=H.M. Treasury, date=October 1999, title=Building Trust in Statistics (Command Paper), publisher=The Stationery Office Books, url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=10543&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272, isbn=0-10-144122-3 , id=Cm. 4412
Treasury announcement of the Framework document

External links

The Statistics Commission's website

The Office for National Statistics' website
Defunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Office for National Statistics 2000 establishments in the United Kingdom

History

Commissioners

See also

References

External links