Confidence in ONS statistics remains high but data issues might pose problems
Public confidence in official statistics remains high, a new survey shows, although a number of high-profile data difficulties might put this into question.
The latest confidence in official statistics survey, conducted by the National Centre for Social Research, showed that 87 per cent of the population trust the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Trust in the ONS was very high whether respondents personally used ONS statistics or not, with 82 per cent of non-users reporting trust in the ONS. This rose to 99 per cent among frequent users.
While 72 per cent of people thought that the statistics were free from political interference, most respondents thought the government and the media presented the statistics dishonestly.
68 per cent of people thought the government misrepresented ONS statistics while three-quarters of survey respondents thought the media did.
“Now more than ever it is vitally important that citizens know where to find reliable, impartial statistics.” Professor Sir Ian Diamond, National Statistician, said.
Although trust in the ONS remains high – exceeding faith in other government institutions – this may come under pressure given some of the challenges faced by the statistics body in recent months.
Last year the ONS published major revisions to its assessment of the UK’s recovery from the Covid pandemic. The revisions suggest the UK’s recovery from the Covid pandemic was roughly in line with peers, whereas previous estimates had indicated that it was lagging behind.
The revisions sparked criticism from many quarters, both due to the sheer size of the changes and because the UK’s relative under-performance became a focus of political debate.
Following the revisions, the ONS asked the statistics regulator to review “best practice” on how to deal with large scale data revisions.
More recently the ONS has struggled with low response rates to its flagship Labour Force Survey.
Policymakers at the Bank of England have flagged the “considerable uncertainty” arising from the low response rates, saying it makes it “more difficult to gauge the underlying state of the labour market”.
“Its very hard to know at the moment to know whether participation has gone up or down and that’s challenging,” Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank, said following the most recent interest rate decision.
“We shouldn’t be surprised if we see some change next year given the challenges the system has had to confront in more recent months.” Sir Robert Chote, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, said.