S4S Project with Advicenow

In November 2025, through collaboration with the RSS Statisticians for Society scheme, the charity Advicenow produced a briefing confirming the overrepresentation of Roma children in social care in England, as well as highlighting persistent issues in the availability of statistics on this issue. Since then, the findings have been written up in a peer-reviewed article; submitted as evidence to the Government Statistical Service Harmonisation consultation; and referenced in two written parliamentary questions. This presentation will consider the policy impact of this Statisticians for Society project, as well as future objectives. 

Read more about the Statisticians for Society project with Advicenow here. https://rss.org.uk/membership/volunteering-and-promoting/statisticians-for-society-initiative/completed-projects/advicenow/  

S4S project with UNJUST
 
Drawing on five years of Home Office stop and search data (2020/21–2024/25), covering over 2.9 million recorded incidents, this presentation explores what an independent statistical analysis conducted through the RSS Statisticians for Society programme reveals about racial disparities in policing. The Black-to-White stop and search rate ratio increased over the period, rather than narrowing, and substantial disparities were evident beyond metropolitan areas, with the South West showing a higher ratio than London.
 
Katrina Ffrench, Executive Director of UNJUST, will discuss the implications of these findings for the organisation's campaigning and policy work, including its strategy to influence policymaking and challenge stop and search practices. Felix, UNJUST's joint Head of Media, Comms and Campaigns, will contribute the organisation's communications and campaigning perspective. Michel Mesquita, the project's S4S volunteer statistician, will present the key findings and explain how independent statistical analysis has strengthened the evidence base available to UNJUST in its engagement with policymakers.

Advicenow - Dragica (Dada) Felja 
Dada started her career working with refugees and asylum seekers at the Refugee Council. For fourteen years, she worked with the Roma refugee and migrant communities in the UK at the London-based charity Roma Support Group. Dada currently works at the public legal education charity Advicenow as Head of Education and Training. This role includes delivering training and workshops on a range of legal topics to community groups and grassroot initiatives. Most recently, she has managed Roma-focused projects with aim to reduce disadvantage in the child protection process for Roma families. 
 
S4S Volunteer - Gessienne Grey 
Gessienne Grey is a statistician currently working at the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. They have previously worked at the UK Department for Education and the International Telecommunication Union. Through the RSS Statisticians for Society scheme, they have contributed to research on the overrepresentation of Roma children in social care on behalf of the charity Advicenow.  

UNJUST - Katrina Ffrench, Executive Director of UNJUST
 
UNJUST - Felix Tasker, UNJUST's joint Head of Media, Comms and Campaigns
 
S4S Volunteer - Michel Mesquita, PhD & Cstat
Michel is a Chartered Statistician with a PhD in Atmospheric Sciences and founder of M2Lab.io, a centre for statistical and data science research. He has nearly two decades of experience in statistical modelling and forecasting, including over a decade leading climate research teams, helping secure more than £11.5 million in research funding, and authoring over 50 peer-reviewed publications, including in *Nature Climate Change*. Through M2Lab.io, he develops open-source statistical and data-science tools. He volunteers with the RSS Statisticians for Society programme, through which he partnered with UNJUST on an independent five-year statistical analysis of police stop and search data.

 

Statisticians for Society