Charting the future of official statistics dissemination

Producing official statistics is a complex and involved process, much of which goes on behind the scenes in organisations across the GSS. However, for the user, their access point to our work is when it is published either on GOV.UK or organisational websites.

With some notable exceptions, for many statisticians the publishing process has seen little change in the last decade, yet for users it remains the most visible part of our work. For that reason, when the GSS vision (Strength in Numbers) was published two years ago, we set an ambition to explore a single, government-wide dissemination platform.

From that work has come Explore Government Statistics, an 18-month pilot looking at how official statistics are published, found, accessed, understood and reused across government. Five GSS organisations  (Department for Education, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Health and Social Care and the Health and Safety Executive) have come together to develop and test what could become the future home for published official statistics, with the support of the GSS Dissemination Task and Finish Group. Now, we need the help of statisticians and users across the GSS.

Building an easier access point to statistics

Government organisations take different approaches to publishing statistics. Many use the central Whitehall publishing platform, while others build and maintain their own dissemination services. Current tools, processes and formats can duplicate effort, limit producers’ control and make statistics harder to find, understand and reuse.

Previous work suggests that a shared bespoke statistics service could make publishing simpler and help to prevent accessibility, consistency and reuse problems at source. It could give producers greater control over their releases, while allowing users to read accessible publications, explore data interactively and reuse it through downloads and APIs.

Developing these capabilities once for shared use could also reduce duplicated effort, allow more organisations to benefit from continued improvements, and make government statistics more coherent. Our discovery phase will test which of these benefits matter most, which other needs should take priority, and how far needs are shared across the GSS.

The GSS Web Dissemination Task and Finish Group reviewed existing dissemination services and, through engagement with the Heads of Profession network, identified the Department for Education’s Explore Education Statistics service as the best-placed existing candidate for possible expansion. No decision has been made to expand the service, and participants are not being asked to evaluate it.

Our work is starting with discovery research involving people who produce and use government statistics through publication platforms. The discovery phase will finish in December 2026 and will determine which problems the pilot should address. If the evidence supports continuing, further research in 2027 will assess whether Explore Education Statistics could meet wider GSS needs and what changes would be required.

Take part in our research

We’re interested in learning about your experiences uploading and accessing official statistics, including what works well, challenges that need to be addressed, shared needs across the GSS, and whether a shared service could support you. The findings will inform how the platform could be delivered.

Sign up to take part in the research by 31 October 2026. The form will gain your consent and direct you to the survey. If you both publish government statistics and use statistics from other organisations, select both options and complete both surveys. There is also an option to volunteer to take part in an interview, which will take up to 45 minutes before 6 November 2026.

You do not need to be an expert to take part. Please share the form with relevant colleagues and networks who publish or use government statistics.

Next steps

Once we have gained a better understanding of your needs, if the evidence supports continuing, later phases will develop and test possible solutions with producers and users during 2027.

The pilot will explore and test potential approaches, including developing prototype functionality for selected users to try in a controlled environment. It will not include the launch of a live public-facing service. The evidence gathered will inform future decisions about the direction and funding of cross-government statistics dissemination.

Our research will shape the direction of the project. Organisations are not expected to make immediate changes to their publishing services. If the evidence supports developing a single service, its development and any subsequent adoption by organisations would take place over several years.

Organisations should therefore continue with their existing dissemination work. Those planning significant investment in publishing services should keep up to date with the pilot to help avoid unnecessary duplication or commitments that may limit future options.

If you have questions about the research or the wider pilot, or work on a related service, email Cam Race, Service Owner, at explore.governmentstatistics@education.gov.uk.