Scott Heald, RSS Vice-President for External Affairs and Director of Data and Digital Innovation, Public Health Scotland
The first ever UK Statistics Assembly was held last month with around 550 attendees in-person and online. It was delivered by the UK Statistics Authority in partnership with the RSS. Having worked in official statistics for more years than I care to admit, I was geekily excited, especially as it coincided with my first month as the RSS vice-president for external affairs.
Official statistics give us the insights we need to make decisions and understand our society and economy better. These are produced by a number of government departments and public bodies – like mine,
Public Health Scotland (PHS), which is one of Scotland’s largest producers of official statistics, responsible for collecting Scottish health and social care statistics.
One question that is always at the forefront of our minds at PHS is how we meet the needs of statistics users – from those making policy decisions, to healthcare practitioners, healthcare charities and the public making their own decisions about their own and their loved-one’s health.
The Assembly was established to answer just this question, following the recommendation in former RSS president Denise Lievesley’s
review of the UK Statistics Authority. What data gaps do users face currently and what are the challenges and opportunities for the UK’s statistics system? The timing of this is especially important, as the discussion had at the Assembly will feed into each department and public bodies’ work plans. The budgets of all statistics producers are constrained at present, so it is more important than ever that we ensure we make informed decisions about priorities.
Of course, we need to think not just about official statistics but how the system can engage with the broader statistical ecosystem – something
the RSS’ Public Statistics campaign is all about, going beyond official statistics to answer society’s most important questions. This is why collaboration was so important for this event, with a delivery group from across research, academia, the third sector, local government and the UK’s nations overseeing the event planning.
Chaired by Professor Cathie Sudlow, it was an all-day event, focusing on
15 important areas, including equalities, user engagement and AI and technology. The principal aim was to hear the views of a wide range of participants including users and producers of official statistics through a series of workshops.
I participated in three workshops on the day and was really struck by the high levels of engagement and constructive challenge. Not everyone agreed with each other, which I think was healthy as it shows there are areas where further discussion and debate is required. There was also an openness from statistics producers to listen to and reflect on the views of participants. There was a recurring theme too about coherence across the UK, enabling users to compare (or understand why they can’t compare) statistics produced about of the four home countries.
This Assembly event is not the final word. Former RSS president, Professor David Hand, has the important task of distilling the insights from participants into a report which will inform next steps, further engagement and longer-term planning for the UK official statistics system. What is clear is there is more to be done in ensuring we fully capitalise on the great value our statistical system brings, but this meeting has been a great step in enabling our statistical system to deliver the data needed for the public good.