Fresh drive to fix shortfalls in UK's economic statistics

Ten million pounds is to be spent on fixing shortfalls in the core numbers produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) amid a continuing lack of confidence in their accuracy.

The body is tasked with producing official figures covering key areas of the economy and societal trends.

It has faced particular criticism over the quality of its Labour Force Survey (LFS) - used to calculate employment figures.

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The Bank of England, which needs accurate readings for its rate-setting committee to make informed judgements, is among institutions to have expressed frustration with the numbers since the COVID pandemic.

The problems at the ONS are not all financial.

The Newport-based body's challenges include poor participation rates in areas such as the LFS.

It hopes to have made improvements by spring next year.

That will be of little comfort to the Bank, which needs to know how much inflationary pressure is lingering in the jobs market, through things like wage growth, as it sets interest rates.

The ONS confirmed that plans were being enacted to "urgently" improve the quality of its work in two areas - that covering the economy and population, and the other its household and business data.

The extra cash, to be spent over two years, is to fund the recruitment of up to 150 more data specialists, it said in a statement.

The ONS also said that the UK Statistics Authority and Cabinet Office had agreed with a recommendation to temporarily separate the role of national statistician from that of ONS permanent secretary.

This was in order to provide a greater focus on improving the quality of its core statistics.

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The ONS did not rule out revisions to past data in the months ahead.

Acting director general for economic statistics, Grant Fitzner, said: "The ONS's Plan for Economic Statistics aims to restore confidence and improve the quality of our core statistics.

"It is open about where things stand today and where we need to do better - and forms a crucial part of our response to the recent Office for Statistics Regulation review into economic statistics.

"The Survey Improvement and Enhancement Plan does the same for our household and business surveys."

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