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On 26 July 2007, the Statistics and Registration Service Act received Royal Assent heralding a new era of independence for both the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and for the broader UK statistical system. The Act enables the creation of a new independent body, the UK Statistics Authority, which will distance itself from ministers as a Non-Ministerial Department accountable to Parliament.
The Statistics Authority has a statutory responsibility to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics. It also oversees and ensures the quality, good practice and comprehensiveness of these statistics.
The Statistics Authority is the legal successor to ONS, which will in turn become its 'executive office'. The Authority will also include the role currently performed by the Statistics Commission. Its responsibilities will cover the entire UK statistical system.
In general, the Act will not affect the decentralised nature of the UK statistical system. The majority of National Statistics will continue to be produced by the wider Government Statistical Service (GSS) under the professional management of the Heads of Profession for Statistics (HoPs) in each Administration, Department or Agency.
The Authority's Board consists of the Chair, seven non-executive members, and three executive members, one of whom is the National Statistician. The Board has three main functions:
This page last updated: Wednesday, 12 March 2008
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