Coherence of statistics

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 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, 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
• estimated the size of the self-funding population in care homes and the community, England: 2022 to 2023, broken down by geographic variables and care provider characteristics
• monitored care home resident deaths in England and Wales through weekly datasets — you can access our weekly datasets on care home resident deaths on the ONS website
• published an article on deaths of care home residents, England and Wales: 2022, by underlying and leading cause of death, and by age, sex, and area of usual residence
• collaborated across DHSC, Skills for Care, ONS, Care Quality Commission (CQC), Social Care Wales and academia to finalise a framework for defining the adult social care workforce based on existing frameworks from regulatory bodies and classification systems

Achievements and plans from April 2024 to March 2025

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
• published an article on Unpaid care expectancy and health outcomes of unpaid carers, England: April 2024
• released the Unpaid Carers Scoping Study, feasibility of a new survey, England: May 2024 which details findings and recommendations from a scoping study to understand the feasibility of a new survey of unpaid carers in England

During the rest of the year, we plan to:

• develop a new pilot survey aimed at producing improved sampling estimates and data relating to the unpaid carer population in England
• publish a technical report detailing the development of innovative methods to estimate the adult social care workforce in England that use machine learning, linked administrative data and job adverts, and draw on the new definitional framework developed across multiple key stakeholders in 2023 to 2024

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 Government Statistical Service (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 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, we:

• 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 Crime Survey for England and Wales (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
• collated information on inequalities in victimisation and the crime experiences of non-household populations that are not captured by the CSEW

Achievements and plans from April 2024 to March 2025

So far this year, we have:

• completed a quality review of the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates

During the rest of the year, we plan to:

• work with the Home Office to develop an action plan on improving the information available related to the quality of police recorded crime
• evaluate redeveloped domestic abuse questions that have been added to the CSEW
• start redevelopment of CSEW sexual victimisation questions
• continue work on transformation of the CSEW and the children’s crime survey
• continue work on improving consistency and comparability of flag data for police recorded crime collections
• review the presentation of our crime statistics

Further information

You can find more information about this topic area on our Centre for crime and justice webpage

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

You can contact the theme group by emailing environment@ons.gov.uk.

Main achievements from April 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, we:

• worked with colleagues across government to develop and align new questions for use in ONS’s Opinions and Lifestyle Survey and the Business Impact and Condition Survey
• published the UK Natural Capital Accounts, including full four nation breakdowns for the first time
• published experimental estimates of Green Jobs, using a definition established after wide stakeholder engagement
• finalised Defra’s mapping of published environmental data, drawing on the UK’s climate change statistical framework
• completed a review and mapping of 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

On greenhouse gas emissions, we:

• published an updated article comparing three official measures of UK greenhouse gas emissions: territorial, residential/production and consumption/footprint
• introduced new sectoral classifications to our greenhouse gas emissions (territorial basis) statistics to better meet policy and user needs, improving coherence and alignment – these classifications will continue to be reviewed annually for further improvements and to incorporate new emissions sources
• updated 2023 provisional emissions (territorial basis) statistics splitting all emissions by sector (previously only done for carbon dioxide)
• extended the time series for nitrous oxide and methane emissions in local authority emissions statistics from 2018 to 2020 to 2005 to 2021.

Achievements and plans from April 2024 to March 2025

So far this year we have:

• published new statistics on Indicators of Species Abundance in England as an official statistic in development, and held stakeholder engagement sessions to gather feedback to inform their ongoing development
• included emissions estimates for all Protected Landscapes (including National Landscapes and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty), in addition to National Parks, in our local authority GHG emissions statistics in June 2024
• published new Access to green space in England statistics

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee also published a report in April 2024 with contributions from Defra, Statutory Nature  Conservation Bodies and the devolved governments. This review and mapping work has determined which indicators are still fit for purpose to measure progress against the new GBF goals and targets. It has also helped to align UK and country-level indicators to the GBF, identify what gaps exist, and proposed the development of new indicators.

During the rest of the year, we plan to:

• continue to develop a shared vision for environment statistics and data across Defra, ONS and the wider GSS
• 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
• use Defra’s mapping of published environmental data and statistics to identify areas to improve the efficiency and coherence of government environmental statistics and data
• coordinate and support the increased alignment of existing UK and country Biodiversity Indicators with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and commission indicator development research where required
• continue to engage with users on the ongoing development and expansion of new official statistics in development on access to green space in England
• explore how best to measure public service productivity with respect to environment
• work across various producers of environmental indicators as part of the UK Environmental Observation Framework Natural Capital Working Group.

Further information

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

• the ONS release calendar
• the 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.

Main achievements from April 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, we:

• published the Embedding Inclusivity in UK data report which included an overview of the progress made to 2023
• relaunched the Government Statistical Service Inclusive Data Sub Committee (GSS IDSC)
• revised our monitoring and reporting approach for IDTF recommendations and commitments
• continued to provide harmonisation standards advice and guidance

The ONS will 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) and the Future Population and Migration Statistics Programme (FPMS).

Achievements and plans for April 2024 to March 2025

So far this year, we have:

• agreed thematic priorities for NSIDAC for the financial year which are children’s data, disabilities data and non-household population groups
• engaged with IDTF commitment holders to gather data which will inform our annual report (due for publication in late summer 2024)

During the rest of the year, we plan to:

• publish our annual report in late summer 2024
• continue monitoring the IDTF commitments until March 2025
• continue to support NSIDAC and GSS IDSC
• host a webinar at the Social Research Association to discuss our work
• publish our revised harmonisation workplan with a focus on ethnicity; disability; and sex and gender identity
• explore the coherence of administrative data sources as a key part of FPMS statistical quality assurance

Further information

Read more about the:

• UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) Inclusive Data Taskforce
• UKSA National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Advisory Committee (NSDIAC)
• GSS Harmonisation

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 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, we have published coherence articles on the following topics:

• Ambulance response time data in the UK
• Accident and Emergency wait times across the UK
• The healthcare workforce across the UK

We have also:

• reviewed priorities for coherence in health and explored how to progress these — this included 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

Achievements and plans for April 2024 to March 2025

So far this year, we have published further coherence articles on:

• Measuring NHS experience and satisfaction across the UK
• NHS planned care waiting times across the UK
• Waiting times for cancer treatment across the UK

We are currently in the process of forming a new team in ONS to take forward the health coherence work. This team will be responsible for:

• supporting UK health data producers and data users through networks and supporting joined up narratives.
• gather and evaluate health coherence priorities

We have developed a draft prioritisation framework and will finalise a more detailed action plan in due course.

Further information

Read more about health and care statistics.

Statisticians working in this topic area work on initiatives to improve the coherence and maximise the value of housing, planning, homelessness and rough sleeping statistics.

Who leads the coherence work?

This work is led by the Government Statistical Service (GSS) cross-government groups which cover:

• Housing Steering Group
• Housing Statistics Working Group
• Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Statistics Working 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 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, we:

• published housing and homelessness Census outputs across the UK, including People experiencing homelessness in England and Wales, Overcrowding and under-occupancy by household characteristics in England and Wales, Housing and accommodation tables for Northern Ireland and Household estimates for Scotland
• published new statistics for the UK on Short-term lets through online collaborative economy platforms
• published an article on Council Tax Rates: Comparing Scotland and the other UK nations setting out important differences to consider when comparing Scotland’s Council Tax rates to those of England and Wales

We have also published monthly UK Price index of Private Rents (PIPR) since March 2024, providing rental price indices and average rental prices at a local authority level. PIPR replaced the Index of Private Housing Rental Prices and the Private Rental Market Summary statistics releases.

Local house and rental prices have been brought together in the Housing prices in your area interactive tool which explores ONS’s housing price data. While England and Wales rents data are for achieved rents (existing and new lets), Scotland rents data are mainly for advertised new lets, which were not subject to Scotland’s in-tenancy price-increase cap and are not subject to temporary changes to the Rent Adjudication system. Scottish Government Statisticians believe that the lack of data on existing tenants benefiting from rent controls and changes to the Rent Adjudication system, will lead to over-estimation in stock prices and indices for Scotland since late 2022. Due to data collection differences, we advise caution when comparing Scotland estimates with other UK nations.

Producers have continued to produce a range of statistics and analysis including:

• exploring the quality of administrative data using qualitative methods by ONS, which used qualitative methods to research the inclusivity and representativeness of administrative data on homelessness
• achieving accredited official statistics status in October 2023 for Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s main statutory homelessness statistics for England
• an international evidence review on hidden homelessness, published by the Scottish Government in July 2023, which provided an overview of the methods used internationally to identify or count people and groups experiencing hidden forms of homelessness – this complemented a similarly-themed piece of work, reviewing the evidence on hidden homelessness in the UK, completed by the ONS in March 2024
• a dashboard of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for homes in Wales by the Welsh Government
• the Scottish Government’s first quarterly output of Short Term Lets Licensing Statistics published in August 2023
• a statistical article on Second homes: What does the data tell us? published by the Welsh Government, providing an overview of data sources on second and holiday homes
• the first UK measure of Housing Purchase Affordability, published by ONS using comparable data sources across the UK
• the Social Housing Sales and Demolitions statistical release published by MHCLG in January 2024, which included new analysis on tenure and the losses of Social Housing for rent – this marks significant progress towards providing statistics that measure the net supply of social housing
• the Welsh Government’s monthly homelessness and rough sleeping statistics publication, which has been expanded, is now published as official statistics following improvements to data collection and quality
• in October 2023, MHCLG completed a multi-year project to build a new record-level data collection platform for statistics on Social Housing lettings, which will in turn increase the quality of the data collected and consequently the quality and value of the published statistics

Achievements and plans for April 2024 to March 2025

So far this year, ONS and other producers have published:

• an interactive tool showing Who is exposed to rising housing costs in England and Wales bringing together publicly available data from administrative and survey sources – this was published in April 2024
• energy rating of housing Northern Ireland up to March 2023, the first annual bulletin containing information on energy performance certificates, carbon dioxide emissions and central heating fuel types was published in July 2024
• housing affordability ratios of house prices to small area model-based income estimates covering local areas in England and Wales for the first time in June 2024.

During the rest of the year, we plan to:

• further develop UK Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR) statistics by including rental data from Northern Ireland from March 2025
• explore using administrative data to support improvements in inter-census housing statistics
• explore data from across the UK on affordable housing and publish an article bringing together UK statistics, where feasible describing the data landscape
• continue exploring opportunities to improve the UK coherence of homelessness statistics through outcomes from initiatives and plans taking place across the devolved governments
• produce a more statistically complete picture of the net supply of Social Housing in England in MHCLG’s 2023 to 2024 Social Housing Sales and Demolitions release, due in January 2025
• continue working with analysts across the GSS to improve the statistical coherence of housing and homelessness statistics, increasing 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) Technical Engagement 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 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, we:

• 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
• reviewed how income and earnings publications present information on quality

DWP has published a new measure of poverty, Below Average Resources, and an associated consultation which ran from 18 January to 11 April 2024. DWP has also published illustrative data in its Family Resources Survey (FRS) Transformation: integrating administrative data into the FRS publication to demonstrate the value of linking to DWP benefits administrative data in March 2024.

Achievements and plans for April 2024 to March 2025

So far this year, we have:

• published a blog post Understanding the new income statistics for local areas: Different measures for better insights
• helped users to better understand the income landscape by publishing Income statistics: Coherence and comparison on the Income and earnings statistics guide
• published an analysis article on small area household finance Exploring the use of admin data to derive small area income estimates, England and Wales.

During the rest of the year, we plan to:

• publish a 2024 to 2025 plan to improve the coherence of income and earnings statistics
• update existing income and earnings guidance material to provide further information on the differences and similarities between ONS and DWP household income statistics
• compare the income components in DWP and ONS household income statistics against international handbooks and frameworks – these are known as the Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics and the OECD Framework for Statistics on the Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth.

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.

Who leads the coherence work?

This work is led by:

• the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
• the National Records for Scotland (NRS)
• the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
• the Welsh Government (WG)

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

Main achievements from April 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, we:

• agreed at the Inter-Administration Committee (IAC) in February 2024 that a harmonised UK-wide approach to producing population estimates was imperative
• set up a Task and Finish Group on Future UK Population and Migration Statistics to strengthen the flow of information across the devolved governments to support UK wide coherence – the initial focus of the group has been to support data sharing and also support technical knowledge sharing
• continued the established publication cycle of population and migration statistics to ensure consistent outputs that can be used across GSS and beyond – this included UK population estimates for mid-2022
• worked with colleagues across government departments, through the GSS Steering Group, and secondment programmes between ONS and the Home Office and ONS and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to help us better understand and align migration statistics
• worked with Other Government Departments (OGDs) on census migration articles
• linked HM Revenue and Customs data with Home Office data to understand difference in incomes by visa type
• published an update on using Home Office data to measure EU nationals

Achievements and plans for April 2024 to March 2025

So far this year, we have:

• published admin-based population estimates for England and Wales alongside the official mid-2023 population estimates to inform users and seek feedback as part of our transformation of population statistics
• shared the Dynamic Population Model (DPM) code that produces admin-based population estimates with the devolved governments
• set up a population statistics working group across the UK and a funding impacts group involving government finance departments across the devolved governments
• set up a working group with NISRA, Central Statistics Office (Ireland) and ONS to ensure a coherent estimate of migration in the common travel area
• published an update on using admin data to measure migration of British nationals

During the rest of the year, we plan to:

• agree deliverables with IAC for further work to develop an agreed approach to the statistical design for coherent UK population and migration estimates
• agree an approach across the UK for producing cross-border migration flows from the DPM
• agree with Home Office to produce Exit Checks data within the Integrated Data Service to allow for further data linkage and analysis
• publish further updates on migration research

Further information

• How population and migration statistics are evolving
• The future of population and migration: a statistical design
• Population statistics and sources guide

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 Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
• 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 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024 we:

• 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 governments 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
• have undertaken research to align devolved government trade surveys and published an article on the feasibility of producing interregional trade statistics using survey data and administrative data sources — this will allow for new UK interregional trade estimates to be produced in Autumn 2024 as official statistics in development (previously termed ‘experimental statistics’)

Achievements and plans for April 2024 to March 2025

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.

The Welsh Government plans to consider how the sampling of the Trade Survey for Wales could be more coherent with other devolved government trade surveys. The Welsh Government are working with the NISRA and Scottish Government on this.

NISRA are working on a new Trade HTML page that brings together NI-GB trade stats into one place to make it easier for users to access. Bringing together trade stats for NI from The Northern Ireland Economic Trade Statistics (NIETS), Economic accounts and Ports stats will better explain NI-GB trade. The goal is to pull together disparate data sources (that each provide some of the big picture) in order to try to provide as complete a picture of NI-GB trade as possible. This will replace the NI-GB trade slide pack that NISRA previously published.

ONS also plan to:

• update the regional trade user guide
• publish Subnational trade in goods and services timeseries in Nov 2024 – this covers UK regions and smaller geographies to ITL3 level on a consistent basis from 2016 to 2022
• publish new estimates of interregional trade at an ITL1 level in Autumn 2024 as official statistics in development (previously termed ‘experimental statistics’)

Further information

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

The Office for National Statistics (ONS), devolved governments and relevant departments have been working together to create and improve the coherence of UK-wide data in high-priority areas of shared interest.

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 Technical Engagement Division and other teams at ONS, through regular engagement and collaboration with:

• the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• the Cabinet Office (CO)
• 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 evidence, and analysis across the UK. The steering board is chaired by Directors from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Cabinet Office (CO), with the Secretariat provided by the CO. The board has met five times since February 2023 and has discussed topics including housing quality, economic inactivity, and social care.

Main achievements from April 2023 to March 2024

From April 2023 to March 2024, working with GSS colleagues, ONS teams have:

• published health coherence articles exploring the cross-UK comparability of ambulance response time data, accident and emergency wait times statistics and healthcare workforce data across the UK – further health coherence articles have been published and these can be found within ‘achievements and plans for April 2024 to March 2025’ in this section
• developed an experimental methodology for producing UK interregional trade estimates for the UK nations and English regions using trade survey data from each nation
• 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 the housing purchase affordability statistics for 2022 to 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 also identified and agreed a new set of UK-wide data coherence projects to take forward in the financial year 2024 to 2025. This was achieved through engagement and consultation with the devolved governments and agreed with the IAC and devolution colleagues housed within the Cabinet Office.

Achievements and plans for April 2024 to March 2025

So far this year, working with GSS colleagues, ONS teams have:

• established a new National Accounts cross-UK engagement and coordination group with representation from the devolved governments and ONS – this group is chaired by the ONS Head of Regional Capital and will meet on a regular basis to discuss data issues, sector specific nuances and knowledge sharing for National Accounts
• published further health coherence articles exploring the comparability of NHS experience and satisfaction data across the UK, NHS planned care waiting times statistics across the UK and cancer waiting time statistics across the UK
• updated the Health and Care Statistics Interactive tool to provide UK coverage of information – the tool provides signposting to published official health and care statistics across the UK in one location, which was previously available for England only
• expanded the coverage of the GSS health newsletter to be UK wide – previously this was for England only

During the rest of the year, we plan to continue working with ONS and GSS teams, progressing additional UK-wide priority projects. These include:

• facilitating the onward sharing of administrative data, development of common methods and knowledge transfer between ONS and the devolved governments to develop a future UK-wide population and migration statistics system that is coherent and harmonised across all four UK nations
• exploring the cross-UK comparability of data on affordable homes that is available across the four UK nations
• publishing new interregional estimates for trade in goods and services by UK nation and English regions, using trade survey data from the four nations – this output will be official statistics in development (previously termed ‘experimental statistics’) and is expected to be published in late 2024
• the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Below Average Resource (BAR) poverty measure – this new measure is based on the approach recommended by the Social Metrics Commission
• working with the devolved governments to share knowledge, best practice and data sources from the ONS-led UK Public Service Productivity (PSP) Review to help make similar improvements to their country-specific estimates of public service productivity
• taking forward further work on health coherence and health data comparability across the UK, such as measuring health outcomes and other health coherence priorities
• work by the Welsh Government, Scottish Government and Department of Health and Social Care to improve understanding and comparability of cross-border NHS service use data

We are also progressing other longer-term priority projects such as developing a UK Health Index, building on the previously published health index for England. This work is subject to funding being available and options for funding are currently being explored.

Further information

You can ask for more information about this topic area by emailing 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