The RSS has opened a callout for short, two-minute contributions to our second Covid evidence session which will be on the topic of governments’ statistical resources.
The event will take place on Tuesday 3 May, 4-6pm both online and in-person and registration will open shortly. It is organised by RSS Covid-19 Task Force member, Simon Briscoe and independent data consultant and associate of the Institute for Government, Gavin Freeguard.
At the event we will investigate the following questions:
- The data journey. What did the journey look like at the start, and what changed through the pandemic? What drove any changes in public and private data availability and use?
- Cross-government sharing. Did different public sector institutions – including central government, devolved governments, local government, health services – share and integrate data effectively across organisational boundaries? If not, what were the barriers? What effect did this have on communication with policy-makers, parliament and the public?
- Definitions and communication. Were definitions and their caveats – for example, in how deaths or hospitalisations were defined – sufficiently consistent and clearly communicated? Were there any changes, and how were they managed?
- Covid Infection Survey. What can we learn from the survey? Did it provide value for money, and were there alternatives? What should its future be?
- Open data and transparency. How might greater transparency around data and research used in policy- and decision-making have improved outcomes? What could have been done to improve transparency?
If you have views on any of these questions and would like to make a short, two-minute contribution to the event, please give some details of what you would like to say via the link below. You can contribute in-person or remotely, and those who are selected to contribute do not need to register for the event. There are a limited number of slots available and we do not anticipate being able to offer a speaking slot to everyone who responds to this call. Our aim is to represent the breadth of opinion on these topics, so we will try and select speakers on that basis.
The call for contributions will close at 1pm on Friday 22nd April.
Register to attend the event in person at the Royal Statistical Society
Register to attend online
Answer the call for contributions