Coherence of statistics 2023 to 2024

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on improving the coherence and availability of Adult Social Care (ASC) statistics.

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by the Four Social Care Group. The group is made up of members from:

• the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC)
• NHS England
• the Department of Health Northern Ireland
• the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• Scottish Government
• Welsh Government

You can contact the Four Social Care Group by emailing Social.Care@ons.gov.uk.

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023, we:

• continued to update our UK adult social care statistics landscape and Four Nations matrix to show how complex it can be to compare statistics across the four nations — these resources contain figures, collection information, characteristics of data, and publication links
• monitored care home resident deaths through weekly datasets — you can access our weekly datasets on care home resident deaths on the ONS website
• published bulletins on deaths in the care sector in England and Wales by underlying and leading cause of death and produced new Quality and methodology information (QMI) and Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) reports to work towards badging as accredited official statistics
• provided an update using Census 2021 to estimate life expectancy in care homes for England and Wales from 2021 to 2022
• worked with the ONS, DHSC and the Care Quality Commission to publish estimates of the number of people who self-fund their care in England — this includes estimates for self-funded care home residents and estimates for self-funded community care
• outlined a data science method nations could use for identifying different roles in the social care sector using online job advertisements

We also provided new data on unpaid carers in England and Wales using 2021 Census data to produce the following publications:

• Unpaid care, England and Wales Census 2021
• Unpaid care by age, sex and deprivation, England and Wales: Census 2021
• Unpaid care and protected characteristics, England and Wales: Census 2021

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year, we have continued to update our UK adult social care statistics landscape and Four Nations matrix. These contain figures, collection information, characteristics of data, and publication links to show how complex it can be to compare statistics across the four nations.

We plan to look at harmonising social care workforce definitions, with methods used by ONS and Social Care Wales

Further information

Read more about health and care statistics.

Read more about adult social care statistics.

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on improving the coherence and availability of crime statistics.

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by:

• the GSS Crime and Justice Working Group
• the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Centre for Crime and Justice

The GSS Crime and Justice Working Group is made up of members from the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, and ONS.

You can contact the teams working in this topic area by emailing Crime.Statistics@ons.gov.uk.

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023, we:

• re-established face-to-face interviewing at scale on the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)
• completed a consultation on our plans for the transformation of the CSEW, which aims to make survey data collection more resilient to future events
• began to implement a new multimodal panel design for the CSEW, with second wave telephone interviews starting in October 2022
• continued to explore the feasibility of online surveying as part of a multimodal approach to survey data collection — you can find more information about this in our Transformation of the Crime Survey for England and Wales methodology
• continued to improve our data collection and statistics related to violence against women and girls — this includes redeveloping domestic abuse questions and developing a new data dashboard that gives information about violence against women and girls
• continued to work on the transformation of the Children’s CSEW and developed new questions on children’s personal safety

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year, we have:

• provided crime estimates that are comparable with the previous year for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic
• introduced new questions related to domestic abuse on the CSEW through a split sample trial
• published our first article on experiences of harassment using data from the CSEW
• reviewed ways of improving crime statistics on care home residents
• extended the use of the National Data Quality Improvement Service (NDQIS) to help improve the quality of data on recorded offences of Domestic Abuse

We plan to:

• continue developing and transforming the ONS Crime Survey to ensure we adapt to the changing circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic and improve availability of crime statistics
• collate information on inequalities in victimisation and the crime experiences of non-household populations that are not captured by the CSEW

Further information

You can find more information about this topic area in the Improving crime statistics for England and Wales progress report.

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on improving the accessibility, breadth and quality of UK statistics on environment, climate and nature.

Who leads the coherence work

This topic will be led by a new Government Statistical Service (GSS) theme group. The group is chaired by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and vice-chaired by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

You can contact the teams working in this topic area by emailing GSS.Coherence@ons.gov.uk.

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023, we:

• published four editions of Climate Change Insights — this analysis brings together statistics from across government by theme
• enhanced the environment domain of the UK Measures of National Well-being dashboard using statistical indicators from across government
• established regular engagement between the Public Attitudes team at the Department for Energy and Net Zero (DESNZ), and the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) team at the ONS — this has helped us better align survey data across departments on topics such as climate change and energy costs, and make better use of the OPN for short-term and ad hoc needs

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year we have:

• published two further editions of Climate Change Insights
• worked with colleagues across government to develop and align new questions for use in ONS’ Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) and the Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey (BICS)
• published the UK Natural Capital Accounts — this is the first with full breakdowns for the four nations of the UK
• published an updated coherence article comparing three official measures of greenhouse gas emissions used in the UK
• published first Experimental Estimates of Green Jobs

We plan to:

• explore opportunities to work with colleagues across government on data projects through the Integrated Data Service (IDS) and a new climate change and net zero integrated data product
• continue to develop a shared vision across Defra and ONS for environment statistics and data
• continue to explore how the statistics and data produced across government can add new insights on the environment and how it interacts with our economy and society
• incorporate more data sources with breakdowns at local authority level in our UK Natural Capital Accounts
• make use of existing networks such as the Environmental Reporting Network and the new GSS theme group to facilitate discussion and share good practice on wider environmental reporting and statistics
• finalise the mapping of Defra’s environmental reporting requirements and data flows — this includes identifying areas to improve the efficiency and coherence of Defra’s environmental statistics and data, and drawing on the ONS climate change statistical framework
• develop new, refined sector definitions for Greenhouse Gas Inventories to provide improved coherence and alignment for users
• continue to work with colleagues across government to improve and develop new measures on topics including green jobs and the low carbon and renewable energy economy

We also plan to continue work to review and map existing UK and country biodiversity indicators in response to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and its associated monitoring framework. This work is being led by:

• the Joint Nature Conservation Committee
• Defra
• the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies
• the devolved administrations

This review and mapping work will determine if these indicators are still fit for purpose to measure progress against the new GBF goals and targets. It will also help to align UK and country-level indicators to the GBF, identify what gaps exist, and propose the development of new indicators.

Further information

You can find up-to-date data on this topic area by looking at:

• the ONS release calendar
• the GOV.UK research and statistics directory
• the Welsh Government research and statistics directory
• the Scottish Government research and statistics directory
• the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) directory

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on improving harmonisation, coherence, and accessibility of equality statistics across the UK particularly in relation to:

• protected characteristics groups
• people at greater risk of disadvantage
• socioeconomic status
• geography

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by different teams within the Health Population and Methods Group at the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This work facilitates a joined up approach across the statistical system in responding to the recommendations of the Inclusive Data Taskforce (IDTF). This includes an implementation plan to improve data inclusivity across the UK statistical system.

You can contact the team by emailing Equalities@ons.gov.uk.

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year:

• the ONS Centre for Equalities and Inclusion has worked with stakeholders across the UK to establish a programme of work addressing critical equalities data gaps identified by the IDTF — this programme of work is outlined in the IDTF Implementation Plan
• we have worked with the Cabinet Office Equality Hub on data-related actions from the Inclusive Britain report — in particular, this has involved consulting on standards for ethnicity data and engaging with people across different ethnic groups to better understand the language and terminology with which they identify

We plan to continue working with colleagues across the Government Statistical Service (GSS) to address prioritised equalities data gaps identified by the IDTF in a coherent way. This work will be informed by the National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Advisory Committee (NSIDAC).

Further information

Read more about the:

• ONS Centre for Equalities and Inclusion
• UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) Inclusive Data Taskforce
• UKSA National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Advisory Committee (NSDIAC)

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on improving the harmonisation, coherence, and accessibility of health statistics across the UK.

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by the:

• Health Leadership Forum, which was formed in 2022
• Cross-UK Data and Statistics Group
• UK Health Statistics Steering Group (UKHSSG), which oversees several theme groups

These groups include statistical producers from across the UK. They include but are not limited to:

• the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
• the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID)
• NHS Business Services Authority
• NHS Digital
• Public Health Scotland
• Welsh Government
• the Department of Health Northern Ireland
• NHS England
• the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)

You can contact the teams working in this topic area by emailing GSS.Health@ons.gov.uk.

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023, we:

• expanded the membership of the Health Statistics Steering Group to be UK-wide — members from the four UK nations now attend every meeting allowing progress on UK coherence to continue at pace
• worked with the UKHSSG theme groups to improve knowledge-sharing across the four nations, and develop opportunities to improve UK-wide coherence
• worked with the UKHSSG theme groups to encourage engagement with data users
• redesigned the monthly Government Statistical Service (GSS) Health and Social Care newsletter to better meet user needs — this is helping organisations across the health sector to stay informed of important updates
• continued to develop the health and care interactive tool, which compiles all official statistics relating to health and care for England — this makes it easier for users to find related publications from across government

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year, we have created a new team in ONS to further support efforts to improve coherence and, where feasible, produce UK-wide data. We will begin by concentrating  on six priority areas:

• ambulance waiting times
• A&E waiting times
• NHS Staff
• referral to elective waiting times
• NHS Experience
• cancer wait times

Our aim is to publish outputs from this work in late 2023 to spring 2024.

We have also:

• reviewed priorities for coherence in health and explored how to progress these — this includes setting up two new UKHSSG theme groups (NHS Experience and NHS Workforce) and reviewing the structure of the current theme groups and seeking feedback on proposals to improve how the theme groups work
• continued working with the UKHSSG theme groups to scope out opportunities to develop UK-wide coherence within their themes as well as to communicate plans and progress
• facilitated user engagement by improving communication tools such as StatsUserNet and promoting user groups to encourage engagement and input from a diverse range of users
• supported work to better understand stakeholders and share guidance to support colleagues to develop stakeholder maps

Further information

Read more about health and care statistics.

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on finding opportunities for the four countries of the UK to work together on housing, homelessness and planning statistics, to provide a coherent overview of the UK housing landscape.

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by the Government Statistical Service (GSS):

• Housing Statistics Working Group
• Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Statistics Working Group
• Housing Steering Group
• Private Rental Sector Working Group

You can contact the teams working in this topic area by emailing GSS.Housing@ons.gov.uk.

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023, we:

• held a workshop with data producers from across the UK to support the development of case-level homelessness data
• published statistics related to housing and energy, including Census 2021 data about housing and energy, research on insulation, and an annual Energy Efficiency of Housing in England and Wales publication
• launched a consultation across the GSS to provide a greater understanding of the user needs for planning statistics across the UK — the outcome of the consultation is being considered by the data producers from across the GSS
• published a blog which describes the comparability of data on homeless deaths across the UK
• published House building data, UK: permanent dwellings started and completed by country including breakdowns for local authorities for the first time
• published an article on coherence for UK fuel poverty statistics, which sets out the different approaches to fuel poverty statistics across the four countries of the UK

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year ONS has published:

• People experiencing homelessness, England and Wales: Census 2021 — these statistics and census statistics from the other UK countries provide insights that are supplementary to the regular official statistics on homelessness and rough sleeping, which remain the main and most appropriate informational sources on the topic
• the first UK measure of Housing Purchase Affordability, using comparable data sources across the UK
• an overview of the intended methodology, including impact analysis, as part of the transformation project for rental price statistics — this was published in December 2023 and ONS will begin publishing these new statistics on a monthly basis from March 2024

We plan to continue working with analysts across the GSS to improve the statistical coherence of housing and homelessness statistics. This will increase the value of these statistics to inform current public policy and debate.

Further information

Read more about housing, homelessness and planning statistics.

Read about the cross-government housing, homelessness and planning work programme.

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on improving the coherence and accessibility of income and earnings statistics across the Government Statistical Service (GSS).

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by the:

• GSS Income and Earnings Coherence Steering Group
• Office for National Statistics (ONS) Local and Coherence Division

The GSS Income and Earnings Coherence Steering Group is made up of members from:

• the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• ONS

You can contact the teams working in this topic area by emailing GSS.Income.Earnings@ons.gov.uk

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023, we:

• published a 2023 plan to improve the coherence of income and earnings statistics which brings together the work of ONS, DWP and HMRC into a single place and concentrates on making improvements in five major areas: coherence of narrative, coherence of sources, accessibility, quality, and user engagement
• hosted a workshop on the use and planned use of administrative data in the production of income and earnings statistics — producers and developers working with the same or similar administrative data will continue to meet regularly and make opportunities to share progress, material, and code
• led the coherence workstream as part of ONS’s Household Financial Statistics Transformation (HFST) project — this involved documenting coherency challenges and developing recommendations for the HFST project to address
• provided OSR with an update on our cross-GSS work to address recommendations from its income-based poverty statistics review and published a blog post about the journey to improving income-based poverty statistics to update users on our progress
• developed subnational multivariate income by ethnicity statistics from administrative data and assessed the quality of these by comparing them against published official statistics

Producers have also continued to provide a range of analysis on priority topics including:

• parents being more likely to report increases in their cost of living
• how increases in housing costs affect households

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year we have:

• published an update to the 2023 plan to improve the coherence of income and earnings statistics to update on progress against existing initiatives
• provided the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) with an update on our cross-GSS work to address recommendations from its income-based poverty statistics review
• determined the user need for a single set of household income statistics
• reviewed the alignment of income and earnings releases across the GSS

Further information

Read more about income and earnings statistics.

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on providing high quality international migration statistics and insights. They do this by using the most up-to-date and accurate data available to produce outputs that are relevant, coherent, and timely.

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by:

• the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Centre for International Migration
• the Home Office
• the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

You can contact the teams working in this topic area by emailing POP.Info@ons.gov.uk.

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023, we:

• produced a dashboard on migration statistics across government
• worked closely with devolved administrations with census data to support rebased population and revised migration estimates
• agreed to chair United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) taskforce on emigration statistics
• continued to invest in developing shared understanding of migration statistics through secondment programmes with DWP and the Home Office
• produced a guide to using country of birth, nationality, and passports held data and statistics — this guidance ensures more coherent migration statistics outputs across the GSS community and beyond
• developed methods to link refugee data to various administrative data in a pilot study led by the ONS and the Home Office
• responded to the Office for Statistics Regulation’s review of migration statistics — this response includes updates on methods, data sources, quality assurance, and user engagement and communication
• wrote a progress update on the future of international migration statistics in 2022 and beyond, explaining the next stages of the international migration transformation programme to produce user-focused migration estimates and how we will support the Dynamic Population Model (DPM) to produce timely population estimates

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year, we have worked with Home Office, DWP, and the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) to publish a Quality Assurance of Admin Data (QAAD) report on government administrative data sources that are inputs to long-term international migration statistics.

We plan to:

• agree with Home Office to produce Exit Checks data within the Integrated Data Service (IDS) which allows for further data linkage and analysis
• continue the established publication cycle of migration statistics to ensure consistent outputs that can be used across GSS and beyond
• work with colleagues across government departments, through the GSS Steering Group, and secondment programmes between ONS and the Home Office and ONS and DWP — this will help us better understand and align migration statistics
• work with Other Government Departments (OGDs) on census migration articles
• link HMRC data with Home Office data to understand difference in incomes by visa type

Further information

Read about the population and migration statistics system transformation project.

Read updates about the population and migration statistics system transformation project.

Statisticians working in this topic area concentrate on improving coherence and reducing trade data gaps across the four nations of the UK.

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by:

• the Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
• the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
• Scottish Government
• Welsh Government

You can contact the teams working in this topic area by emailing Global.Trade.&.Investment@ons.gov.uk.

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023 we:

• continued the transformation of UK trade and investment statistics in areas such as UK interregional trade and trade asymmetries — this transformation work is helping to improve trade data cohesion between the four UK nations and internationally
• analysed trade in services data to identity possible causes of asymmetries — this included establishing an international working group on asymmetries and ongoing engagement with other national statistics institutes and data compliers worldwide to improve the international coherence of trade in services statistics
• made further improvements to the Annual International Trade in Services Survey — this involved including the transport sector and improvements in cohesion with the international standard Extended Balance of Payments Services (EBOPS) classification, with publishable outputs expected after 2025

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year we have:

• published a regional trade user guide which outlines the measures of trade data and the methods used to produce them, enabling the user to decide which measure is suitable for their purpose — this guide was produced by ONS, HMRC and the devolved administrations and published in July 2023
• published the Subnational Trade in Goods and Trade in Services timeseries in June 2023 — this covers UK regions and smaller geographies to International Territorial Level (ITL) 3 on a consistent basis from 2016 to 2021
• undertaken research to align devolved administration trade surveys and published an article on the feasibility of producing inter-regional trade statistics using survey data and administrative data sources — this will allow for experimental UK interregional trade estimates to be produced in Autumn 2024

ONS plans to publish a user guide on international trade data and related asymmetries. This guide aims to bring together information on trade asymmetries and signpost to available resources to help users to easily access the information they need.

Welsh Government plans to consider how the sampling of the Trade Survey for Wales could be more coherent with other devolved administration trade surveys. Welsh Government are working with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) and Scottish Government on this.

Further information

You can find more information about this topic area by emailing Global.Trade.&.Investment@ons.gov.uk.

The ONS, devolved administrations and relevant departments have been working together to create new UK-wide data in high-priority areas of shared interest across UK administrations. This section brings together all of the UK-wide coherence projects and may include some initiatives that are already covered in previous sections.

Who leads the coherence work

This work is led by the ONS Local and Coherence division and other teams across ONS, through regular engagement with:

• the devolved administrations
• the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
• the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Heads of Profession and Directors of Analysis

Governance of cross-UK coherence statistical work is through the Inter-Administration Committee (IAC), which is chaired by the National Statistician.

A UK-wide evidence and analysis steering board aims to improve access and use of data, evidence, and analysis across the UK. The steering board is chaired by the Director of Analysis at DLUHC.

Main achievements from April 2022 to March 2023

From April 2022 to March 2023, we:

• expanded the UK-wide quality of jobs statistics publication for 2021 by adding new job quality dimensions and indicators to the analysis
• extended published statistics on subregional productivity in the UK (Gross Value Added (GVA) per hours worked) to include Northern Ireland at local authority level
• built an up to date, flexible, detailed, and coherent overview of public transport availability across the UK
• extended the adult smoking habits in the UK publication to include statistics for Northern Ireland
• published a UK-wide Local Authority house building dataset using coherent, mutually agreed methodology across the UK nations — this unified publication allows for UK-wide comparison of new housing stock each year
• published an article summarising the definitional differences of deaths in care homes across the four nations and the feasibility and limitations of producing UK-wide outputs
• published an article on coherence for UK fuel poverty statistics, which sets out the different approaches to fuel poverty statistics across the four countries of the UK

Achievements and plans for April 2023 to March 2024

So far this year, ONS teams have:

• developed an experimental methodology for producing UK interregional trade estimates for the UK nations and English regions using trade survey data from each country — the new experimental estimates are expected to be produced in late 2024
• worked with the UK Health Statistics Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet theme group and produced a comparability matrix comparing the methods and definitions currently used for producing adult and childhood obesity prevalence statistics across the four nations — this is available on request by emailing GSS.Health@ons.gov.uk
• published new UK-level experimental estimates of green jobs using the industry approach, and analysis of new data from green job questions asked on the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey at GB level
• extended our housing purchase affordability statistics for 2022 to now include comparable datasets for Northern Ireland — the housing purchase affordability statistics provide an analysis of the ratio of house prices to annual disposable household incomes

We plan to:

• continue working with the devolved administrations to publish new comparable UK-wide statistics for the number of young people ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ (NEET)
• continue working with the devolved administrations and DLUHC to agree and create further new UK-wide data during 2024 in high-priority areas of shared interest across the four nations

Further information

You can ask for more information about this topic area by emailing GSS.Coherence@ons.gov.uk or UK.Wide.Data.Coherence@ons.gov.uk.

To produce effective analysis, we must build partnerships across the analytical community and beyond. There are several other cross cutting initiatives that are related to statistical coherence and have been designed to join up the UK analytical system.

Analysis Function Strategy for 2022 to 2025

This strategy sets out how Government analysts will produce better outcomes for the public by providing the best analysis to inform decision making. Statistical coherence will help create joined up analysis.

Read the Analysis Function (AF) strategy.

User Engagement Strategy for Statistics

This strategy promotes a theme-based approach to user engagement. We are exploring if we can transition alignment of our current coherence work programme themes to the 12 new core statistical engagement themes.

Read the User Engagement Strategy for Statistics.

GSS Harmonisation Workplan

Harmonisation is about improving the consistency, comparability and coherence of data and statistics. Harmonisation and coherence activities are complementary.

Read the GSS Harmonisation Workplan.

GSS Subnational Data Strategy

This framework acts as a guide for the GSS to help produce and disseminate subnational statistics in a more timely, granular, and harmonised way.

Read the GSS Subnational Data Strategy.

This is further brought into action through the ONS Subnational Workplan, which sets out the ONS’s current and future work related to subnational statistics and analysis.

Inclusive Data Taskforce Implementation Plan

The National Statistician has committed to improve data inclusivity across the UK statistical system. This will be achieved by taking a system wide approach in identifying and working together on initiatives so that everyone counts and is counted in UK data and evidence.

Read the Inclusive Data Taskforce Implementation Plan on the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) website.

The Government Data Quality Framework

This framework sets out the principles and practices to assess, communicate and improve the quality of data in government.

Read the Government Data Quality Framework on GOV.UK.

There are several resources we would recommend looking at to develop your understanding of statistical coherence, including:

• the coherence insight report produced by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in 2019 — this report concentrates on coherence and outlines a framework to support analysts when developing statistics and analysis
• the coherence user research work — this report contains the findings from a series of qualitative interviews with data users about the challenges and opportunities they experience when bringing together government data
• the UK Concordat on Statistics — this is a jointly agreed framework to guide the UK Government, and the Northern Ireland, Scottish, and Welsh Governments when they work together on statistical projects
• the Code of Practice for Statistics — the code states that “producers must demonstrate that they do not simply publish a set of numbers, but that they explain how they relate to other data on the topic, and how they combine with other statistics to better explain the part of the world they describe”
• the National Statistical blog post ‘Embedding joined up insight across UK statistics’ discusses and summarises recent achievements and other statistical work taking place in this area