UK Statistics Office to Cut Back on Data to Improve Quality

The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) is planning to publish fewer statistics in 2026. This is to help improve the quality of the most important economic data. The ONS has faced criticism for errors in its data over the past two years. A government review led to major changes in management. The ONS wants to focus on fewer, better statistics. This will allow them to put more effort into improving the quality of the data. The ONS will reduce the number of health statistics it publishes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ONS published a lot of health data. Now, it wants other parts of the government to take over some of this work. The ONS will still publish key population data. This includes births, deaths, and life expectancy. But other health data may be handed over to different government departments. Crime statistics are also under review. The ONS will continue its main Crime Survey for England and Wales. But other crime statistics may be cut. The ONS says it doesn't have enough funding to keep producing all of them. The ONS is also looking at local economic data. This includes details about the economy at local levels. The Annual Population Survey (APS) is also being reviewed. The APS provides data on local trends in work, housing, ethnicity, and religion. The APS data comes from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Response rates for the LFS have dropped since the pandemic. This has raised doubts about the accuracy of the data. The Bank of England has criticized the ONS for not providing reliable labour market data. The ONS is working to increase the sample size of the LFS. They are also testing a new, modernized version of the survey. This new version is expected to launch late next year. Other economic data has also had errors this year. This includes consumer price inflation, producer prices, trade, retail, and public finances data. The ONS is working to fix these issues. The goal is to provide better, more reliable data in the future.