AiG Awards Hall of Fame

• Winner: Early Years Data and Analysis Team
• Winning project: “Childcare Deserts and Oases”
• Profession: Government Statistical Group (GSG)
• Department: Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted)

By September 2025, most working parents will be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare, which is crucial for Ofsted’s growth and opportunity missions. Recognising the need for detailed local evidence, Ofsted analysts launched an ambitious project to quantify neighbourhood-level childcare accessibility. Working with the Cabinet Office and Treasury, the Ofsted team secured funding to develop hyperlocal childcare accessibility metrics. This project united a team from government, academia, and industry, including experts in geospatial modelling, data visualisation, and local labour markets. The team worked with academics to develop advanced modelling techniques. They partnered with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to create innovative data visualisations and to apply semi-automated journalism techniques that generate bespoke text specific to a user’s postcode. Their collaborative efforts ensured flexibility to meet evolving policy needs during the early days of the new government. New metrics are feeding into No.10 dashboards and informing DfE’s evaluation of its £14 billion investment in expanded childcare.

Judges’ comments

The judges’ comments were as follows:

• “Outstanding international collaboration across Other Government Department (OGD), industry, academia using novel methods and techniques delivering impressive results including innovative data visualisations and feeding into No.10 delivery dashboard”
• “Impressive praise from the stakeholders ”
• “Very strong collaboration across disciplines and departments”
• “Direct policy impact, cross-organisation collaboration to improve data and insights, using uncommon methods (such as data journalism techniques) to do so”

• Winner: Programme for Government (PfG) Wellbeing Framework Development team. Also 2025 Analysis Function People’s Choice Award Winners
• Winning project: “Northern Ireland Programme for Government Wellbeing Framework”
• Profession: Government Statistician Group (GSG)
• Department: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)

The two teams involved in this collaboration have ensured that evidence in the form of official statistics is central to Northern Ireland (NI) government decision making. The Wellbeing Framework they have developed and promoted has been published alongside the draft NI Programme for Government (PfG). The framework combines social, environmental, economic, and democratic factors essential for our society to flourish; ten strategic domains of Wellbeing, supported by a series of official statistic indicators describe the state of NI society. Disseminated through a carefully considered, user-centric dashboard the framework provides politicians, policy makers and the public with an unparalleled opportunity to assess the state of NI society, progress over time and impacts on sub-populations. It has undoubtedly raised the profile and strategic importance of our outputs and the analytical community in NI.

Judges’ comments

The judges’ comments were as follows:

• “Great bid, clear detail on how the metrics were developed and agreed with rigour and clear praise from users – with more time, it will be possible to see wider impact of publication
• “Good balance between consideration of indicators and then their communication, recognising that ever changing metrics unhelpful for meaningful public debate”
• “This felt like a game-changing approach, where the team had to convince seniors and ministers of a fundamentally new approach and then delivered it”
• “Achieved across-the-board positive endorsement of the final product”

• Winner: Explore Subnational Statistics team
• Nominated work: “Launching Explore Local Statistics Beta service”
• Professions: Government Social Research (GSR), Government Digital and Data, Government Statistical Service (GSS)
• Department: Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Local data can be difficult to find. It can be fragmented and inconsistent, which hampers decision-making. The new Explore Local Statistics (ELS) service enables people to find, visualise, compare, and download subnational data, which is accessibly presented to both the public and local policymakers.  Visualisations show how areas compare with other local authorities across topics including health, education, and the economy. To power the innovative interface, the team sourced and standardised data from across departments, providing it in one place. Extensive user research throughout its development ensured this ground-breaking tool provided a careful balance of technical detail and simple headline numbers, to serve its broad user base. Stakeholders have described ELS as “invaluable” and “an important tool” that will “directly inform” policy work, with 57% of users rating it “extremely useful”.   The service won the Campion Award for Excellence in Official Statistics, where it was praised for its “real potential to empower local areas”.

Judges’ comments

The judges’ comments were as follows:

• “Excellent bid – clear thought has gone into the design and presentation of the product, with an award-winning service as the result”
• “Considered user needs from outside an individual departments”
• “Perspective with good user engagement throughout reflected in usage and feedback”
• “Liked user research, the real-world problem that was tackled (for example the multiple sources and burdens on Local Authorities), the development of comparisons and the strong feedback scores”

• Winner: Contracted Employment Analysis team
• Winning project: “Changing our understanding of the impact of Contracted Employment Support”
• Professions: Government Operational Research Service (GORS), Government Economic Service (GES), Government Statistical Service (GSS), Government Social Research Service (GSR)
• Department: Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

In the last few years the team, from multiple analytical professions, have transformed the evidence base for employment programmes. By linking a wide range of datasets and applying ground-breaking analysis they demonstrated these interventions have significant impact for helping tens of thousands of people enter and remain in employment for many years. In turn, they calculated these programmes, which cost around £0.5 billion per year, more than pay for themselves. All analysis was academically peer reviewed. Moreover, they have used this evidence, alongside qualitative research, to influence the design and procurement of major new programmes including Restart and Universal Support. They presented the evidence to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) who scored the employment impacts. This was the first time this has ever happened for a labour market programme. This has influenced evaluation and policy making across more DWP teams. This work is a brilliant demonstration of driving ‘the policy cycle’ to develop evidence-based policies that improve lives through complex and innovative analysis.

Judges’ comments

The judges’ comments were as follows:

• “Strong on collaboration and innovation and use of evaluation, clear outcomes including influencing policy and convincing OBR ”
• “Outstanding evidence of complex analysis with a clear real-world impact”
• “The team have influenced significant amounts of spend and the design of several of DWP’s work programmes – impressive stuff”
• “Nice piece of complex analysis delivered over long-time horizon”
• “Excellent impact demonstrated so far in a tricky policy area with long standing evidence gaps – the potential longer-term impact for this project is huge”

• Winner: HMRC’s National Neurodiversity Network project team
• Winning project: “Make Working at HMRC Work for Everyone survey”
• Professions: Government Social Research (GSR), Government Operational Research Service (GORS)
• Department: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

The co-chairs of HMRC’s National Neurodiversity Network and a team of dedicated researchers have exemplified commitment to diversity and inclusion by leading a Government Social Research (GSR) project to address negative workplace experiences of neurodivergent employees. Going beyond their regular duties, the team conducted HMRC’s first large-scale survey exploring the experiences of neurodivergent employees. Their efforts led to actionable insights and cost-effective interventions that are being reviewed by HMRC’s Executive Committee and HR department. This work not only benefits colleagues in HMRC but also sets a precedent for inclusivity practices across the Civil Service. To help improve the data collected across the Civil Service, this GSR-led project team has been contacted by other government departments to share their knowledge on designing and gathering robust social research with neurodivergent colleagues. This nomination brings together the unique viewpoints of neurodivergent colleagues and the expertise of government researchers to champion inclusivity within government.

Judges’ comments

The judges’ comments were as follows:

• “Good example of challenging inequalities and barriers as well as producing analysis on the subject, all whilst going beyond their day jobs – still to determine the measurable positive impact”
• “Fantastic example of developing new analysis to improve the department’s understanding of the barriers faced by neurodiverse colleagues and thereby enabling change to happen”
• “Potential applicability across other departments to have even great impact – great work by the team”
• “The team has produced unique analysis to analyse and address negative workplace experiences of neurodivergent employees making improvements to data collection”
• “Important evidence to drive inclusion in a poorly (often misunderstood) area of diversity”
• “Huge amount read across for the wider Civil Service in terms of the evidence base, but also the policy changes and adaptions put in place as a result”

• Winner: Discovery analytics team
• Winning project: “Innovative horizon scanning identifies the science and technology of the future”
• Profession: Government Statistician Group (GSG), Government Digital and Data
• Department: Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)

Horizon scanning to identify the most impactful science and technology of the future is a conceptually and technically challenging problem given the large volume of academic papers and scientific news published every day. The Discovery team has built a pipeline that uses a range of innovative techniques to progressively filter out articles which are less likely to be relevant. These techniques include:

• large topic models that group millions of papers into around 50,000 themes
• carefully crafted prompts for a Large Language Model that help us understand the potential of the science described for Defence

Previously, entirely manual processes required analysts to read up to 800 articles per month, with a 1% “hit rate” for new signals. This a tiny proportion of the material published. Now, over 300,000 articles are sifted and triaged automatically per month. These automatically triaged articles achieve up to a 40% “hit rate” when read by analysts in more detail.

  Judges’ comments

The judges’ comments were as follows:

• “Very interesting work grappling with a difficult area and achieving real efficiencies”
• “Clear attention paid to learning from emerging approaches internationally”
• “Great example of using technology to drive significant efficiencies and enhanced outcomes”
• “An excellent demonstration of identifying and explaining the risks of the approach taken, testing the process and engaging with other for input and review ”
• “Clearly innovative, learnt from outer countries (and peer reviewed)”
• “Significant saving on human effort and success rate – particularly liked the extension to test for “weak links” recognising it’s not perfect and they used resources to improve their filtering to identify potential edge cases”
• “While not traditional analysis the impact of more efficiently processing vast amounts of information is clear”
• “Fantastic use of AI to solve an automation problem and drive efficiency and outcomes”
• “This felt like a real paradigm shift in terms of sheer scale and strike rate, with multiple approaches used, risks recognised, and international peer review undertaken”

• Winner: Rebecca Vincent
• Winning project: “Launching Explore Local Statistics Beta service”
• Profession: Government Statistician Group (GSG)
• Department: Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted)

Rebecca Vincent, a Senior Analytical Officer, has significantly advanced our understanding of access to local childcare. Alongside the government’s £14 billion investment in childcare reforms, Rebecca led a highly innovative project to develop neighbourhood-level metrics of childcare access. She built and capitalised on collaborations across government and academia to develop a model that assesses accessibility based on childcare providers and local travel infrastructure. Her innovative approach included highly intuitive interactive visualisations, which generated strong interest from the media and even No.10. Rebecca also built partnerships with the Office for National Statistics to publish a joint report on childcare accessibility, linking Ofsted metrics to local earnings and education figures. The timeliness and impact of this work has been widely recognised, influencing ongoing government policy and earning her team a finalist spot in the Civil Service Awards 2024. Rebecca exemplifies the initiative and big-picture thinking needed in future analytical leaders.

Judges’ comments

The judges’ comments were as follows:

• “Really strong analysis using multiple complex data sets; and great relationship building, convening cross government teams”
• “Impressed with interface with academia and with concentration on impact”
• “Strong on collaboration across government and innovation with some clear outcomes and good to see how they upskilled their team, great to see the feedback from others too”
• “Impactful large-scale project on local level childcare metrics involving multiple departments and organisations – published and informing national debate on childcare issues”
• “Good passion and impactful work”

• Winner: Crisis Data Liaison Officer (DLO) Network, which is formed of multiple teams cross-government
• Winning project: “Crisis Data Liaison Officer (DLO) Network”
• Profession: Cross-profession
• Department: Cabinet Office

The Crisis Data Liaison Officer (DLO) Network is a cross-government group of 40 crisis, data and analysis specialists who volunteer their time in addition to demanding crisis response roles. The group work to identify and improve approaches to sharing data and analysis for the most significant risks facing the UK. The network is the first of its kind in government and is transforming the way that data is brought into the centre for crisis preparedness and response. The network shares knowledge and best practice between previously disparate teams, and is developing the professionalisation of crisis analysis.

• Winner: Digital content Innovation team
• Wining project: “Census localised content”
• Profession: Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT)
• Department: Office for National Statistics (ONS)

The Innovation team within Digital Publishing developed powerful tools to revolutionise access to census data at a local level. Products such as ‘Census maps’, ‘Build a custom area profile’, ‘How your area has changed in 10 years’ and ‘the Census Quiz’, all enabled users to see and understand census data at levels that affected their immediate community. Praised , Census maps has been one of the most used products ever made by ONS and was praised as “a remarkable resource, exceptionally well presented” by Sir Chris Whitty. These resources have democratised access to complex data and empowered less technical users to make data-driven decisions.

• Winner: Public Services Analysis Team, Analytical Hub
• Winning Project: “Experiences of Homes for Ukraine Scheme Sponsors”
• Professions: Government Social Research (GSR) and Government Operational Research Service (GORS)
• Department: ONS

The creation of the Homes for Ukraine (HfU) Scheme meant new data sources were needed to understand the policy’s impact. Working closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and Home Office, ONS filled knowledge gaps, launching a survey and sharing findings within weeks. The team were proactive and flexible, satisfying evidence needs as the situation evolved, with further follow up analyses. Analysis helped government understand the impacts on services and supported a new £650 million support scheme. The team’s significant impact was demonstrated through areas including:

• ‘thank you’ payments
• cost of living
• access to private renting
• rematching with new hosts
• support for hosts
• support for guests beyond hosting

Our analysis gained wide media coverage, drawing comments for many senior government figures on the performance of the schemes and the National Audit Office (NAO) has used the analysis in their evaluation. Most importantly, it has supported particularly vulnerable groups, mostly women and children, during the most difficult of experiences.

• Winner: Matt Jonas – Insight and Service Design Team
• Winning project: “Understanding the needs of non-English speaking and disabled high-rise residents”
• Profession: Government Social Research (GSR)
• Department: Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) was established to ensure another fire like that seen at Grenfell Tower in 2017 never happens again. One of the main aims of the regulator is to ensure vulnerable residents are safe in their homes. Social researchers from the Health and Safety Executive conducted two in-depth projects looking into the attitudes, behaviours, and knowledge of disabled, and non-English speaking, residents to ensure their voices were central to the design of BSR. Working with expert advocacy organisations, and directly with residents, the research uncovered many important findings, including the need to ensure residents feel seen and heard by the organisations who manage buildings. This will be important to build trust and ensure safety. Residents with a range of conditions (physical, mental, sensory, and neurodevelopmental) as well as who spoke various languages (Cantonese, Bengali, Somali, Polish) were included in the research.

• Winner: Noise and Statutory Nuisance Team
• Winning project: “Defra Noise Modelling System”
• Professions: Government Geography Profession (GGP), Policy Profession, and Government Science and Engineering (GSE)
• Department: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

The Defra Noise Team, working with Defra’s Digital, Data and Technical Services Team, has built a dynamic geospatial model covering every public road and railway line in England. They have produced what is thought to be the world’s first digital-twin for environmental noise pollution. This 3D model operates at sufficient resolution to allow local noise assessments, coupled with the scalable processing capacity to consider national scenarios. Analysis of multiple high-quality datasets from a range of suppliers has been automated meaning updates can occur whenever required. Public bodies will be able to access and reuse open-standard data without proprietary software, or needing to spend taxpayer’s money to duplicate modelling. Customers include:

• the Department for Transport (DfT)
• National Highways
• the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
• Local Authorities
• the Rail Safety and Standards Board

The data informs Defra’s 25-year Environment Plan and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparties (OHID’s) Public Health Outcome Framework. The model has won awards from the industry trade body and a major Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) stakeholder.

• Winner: Steve Chick
• Winning project: “Inspiring analysts across the Analytical Community”
• Profession: Government Statistical Service (GSS)
• Department: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

Steve embodies the Analysis Function’s goals of producing efficient, accurate and impactful analysis by being an inspirational example to those around him in HMRC. In his short Civil Service career, he has rescued analytical processes which were on life support and demonstrated how the Department can use modern tools to deliver incredible leaps in efficiency and impact. In doing so, he’s built overwhelmingly positive relationships with stakeholders across professions, functions, and Government Departments. This nomination reflects on those of his achievements that demonstrate his potential to flourish as a pillar of the analytical community.

• Winner: NHS Quality, Safety and Investigations Analytical Team
• Winning project: “A call for evidence to inform England’s first Women’s Health Strategy”
• Department: Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)

The government published England’s first ever Women’s Health Strategy in 2022. The strategy was directly informed by the results of a multi-faceted call for evidence the team designed and analysed with:

• 15 policy teams across DHSC
• six other government departments
• arm’s length bodies
• a university
• external agencies

The project was a testament to cross-team and cross-professional working and enabled us to hear from 100,000 individuals (including minority groups) and over 400 professionals and organisations across the country.  By combining social research with modern data science techniques and policy expertise, this has resulted in real-world change for women in England. 

• Winner: Demographic statistics and vital events team
• Winning project: “Who lives in Scotland?” documentary
• Department: National Records of Scotland

Statisticians from National Records of Scotland (NRS) have worked together on the production of a two-part BBC Scotland documentary called “Who lives in Scotland?”.  Working with producers for six months, the team identified the major stories on this subject, the statistics that underpin them, and the best ways to present and explain them to a general audience. The documentary has been very successful, and it is an excellent way to reach a far wider audience with important messages about how the population is changing and the implications of this. 

• Winner: CACE COVID Compliance Team
• Winning project: COVID-19 Support Scheme Compliance Estimates
• Department: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

HMRC analysts estimated the levels of error and fraud within the COVID-19 support schemes, which collectively paid out nearly £100 billion during the pandemic.  The high quality and timely analysis were influential in the initial design of the schemes and in assessing the risks posed by changes ensuring ministers could take well-informed decisions weighing up error and fraud risks against other objectives.  It supported post-payment recovery activities, future policy development and evaluation of the schemes.  The analysis was used to brief Senior Civil Servants for three Public Accounts Committee hearings. 

• Winner: GESR Ops Team
• Winning project:  Government Economic Service (GES) Apprenticeship
• Department: HM Treasury

The Government Economic Service (GES) Degree Apprenticeship Programme (GESDAP) is a new entry route into the Government Economics Profession that is aimed at people without a university degree. It promotes diversity and supports social mobility.  Only one-third of Government economists are women with the share even lower among undergraduate economists.  In the latest cohort, more than half of those recruited through the GESDAP route were women.  The quality of work from apprentices is high and Chief Economists are justifiably proud of the programme, which also placed in the top 100 in the RateMyApprenticeship Best Employer and Training Providers awards. 

• Winner: Social Science Team
• Winning project: Kitchen Life 2
• Department: Food Standards Agency (FSA)

Food safety matters. There are around 2.4 million cases of food-borne illness annually in the UK costing approximately £9 billion.  In 2021 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) developed “Kitchen Life 2” a project that installs motion-sensitive cameras in kitchens to observe real life behaviour, such as cooking, cleaning, and eating. Using a range of supplementary research techniques including surveys, interviews, and food diaries, findings are mapping to the COM-B behavioural framework to understand the rationale for behaviour and explore the “Say/Do Gap”.  The project, which is still live, is providing fresh insight for the FSA’s risk assessment, policy development and behavioural intervention design.   

• Winner: Catherine Hutchinson
• Winning project: Evaluation Task Force
• Department: Cabinet Office

Catherine set up the Evaluation Task Force in April 2021 to improve the way HM Government programmes are evaluated so that we can know whether programmes should be continued, expanded, modified, or stopped. In 2019, the Cabinet Office found that only 8% of spend on government major programmes and policies was being robustly evaluated. Through the work of the Evaluation Task Force, Catherine is seeking to change this. Her goal is to apply the methods of evaluation and experimentation that are common in medicine to the £1 trillion that HM Government spends each year on public services.   

• Winner: Public Health Data Asset Team​​
• Winning project: “Public Health Data Asset (PHDA) project”
• Department: Office for National Statistics (ONS)

• Winner: Statistical Promotion and Analysis Team​​
• Winning project: “Scotland’s Population 2020”
• Department: Scottish Government

• Winner: COVID-19 Vaccination Programme team
• Winning project: “NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Equalities Tool”
• Department: NHS England and NHS Improvement

• Winner: Sally Davis
• Winning project: “Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion”
• Department: Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl)

• Winner: NHS COVID-19 Modelling Cell​
• Winning project: “NHS Early Warning System and NHS use of Oxford OpenABM”
• Department: NHS England and NHS Improvement

• Winner: Stephen Simpkin
• Winning project: “Data Science Fellow Superhero”
• Organisation: Essex County Council

• Winner: COVID-19 Infection Survey Team​
• Winning project: “COVID-19 Infection Survey”
• Department: Office for National Statistics (ONS)

• Winner: Population Health Analysis and Public Health Data Science ​
• Winning project: “Excess mortality in England”
• Department: Public Health England (PHE)

• Winner: Analytical Products Team, Product Management and Design and Delivery
• Winning project: “COVID-19 Situation Operational Dashboard”
• Department: NHS England and NHS Improvement

• Winner: COVID-19 Statistical Reporting Team ​
• Winning project: “DOH COVID-19 Dashboard”
• Department: Department of Health Northern Ireland​

• Winner: Internal Data Linking Team​
• Winning project: “Splink: Probabilistic Data Linkage at Scale”
• Department: Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

• Winner: Data Services​
• Winning project: “Happiness Index”
• Department: Ministry of Defence​ (MOD)