Guest blog by Jonathan Everett, RSS Head of Policy
A busy and productive start to the year means our first quarterly policy update is coming to you a little late. The standout moment of the first three months of 2026 has been the release of the AI Task Force’s position paper, AI is Statistics, which highlights the essential role of statistical thinking in the effective and ethical use of AI.
AI
The main focus of our work on AI has been to raise awareness of the role of statistics and statistical thinking in developing and using AI effectively and ethically. The purpose of our AI is Statistics paper was to make a provocative case for this so that we could use that to start conversations among our communities and within government. We were really pleased with the response to the paper – it has been our most widely read piece of policy content for some time, and we’re preparing an upcoming series of responses in https://realworlddatascience.net/. It has also prompted discussions with the ONS about their use of AI. Our focus now is on looking for opportunities to leverage this paper and the ideas it communicates to raise awareness of the link between statistics and AI in government and in the media.
We also submitted a response to the Department for Business and Trade’s consultation on the UK’s competition regime, emphasising the importance of high-quality statistical evidence to decision-making.
Public statistics
Our work on public statistics had two main focuses. First, we were completing the Poverty Data Gaps project funded by the JRF Insight Infrastructure team and in partnership with the Centre for Public Data. We held two well-attended and constructive workshops that brought together users and producers and generated lively and productive discussions which have fed through to the final recommendations. We're now at work promoting the recommendations that have emerged from these workshops and will update on progress in the next blog.
Our new Honorary Officer for Public Statistics, David Caplan, has continued our engagement with the statistical system via roundtables that facilitate discussions between members and key government statisticians and regulators. One such discussion with the OSR, on the topic of user engagement aimed to emphasise the value of a more relational, transparent and consistent approach. We want to see user engagement embed lived experience, clearly demonstrate how input shapes decisions, and establish system-wide standards. This would strengthen trust, improve accessibility, and ensure statistics better reflect and serve public need.
We were also approached to convene a small group of members to feed into the development of the economic statistics business plan – a good indicator that our contribution in this area is valued.
We responded to a number of consultations and inquiries in this area of work: responding to ONS consultations on ethnicity standards and Census 2031 and an inquiry by the Education and Work and Pensions Select Committees into the government’s Child Poverty Strategy – where we highlighted how the UK’s poverty data could be strengthened to support the strategy.
Public understanding and education
We are delighted to have appointed Chris Brignell as our new Vice President for Public Understanding, Engagement and Education. We also welcome newly-appointed members to his advisory group (the Education Policy and Public Engagement Advisory Group) and have started work to influence the development of the maths curriculum and promote public understanding of AI. As part of this work, we submitted a response to an Ofqual consultation on the use of formulae sheets in exams.
Finally, the application window has now closed for the upcoming academic year’s cohort of Willaim Guy Lecturers. We have a number of excellent applications to review and look forward to updating you in our next quarterly blog as to which successful candidates will be taking on this year’s important and topical theme of Statistics and Misinformation.