Committee examines needs of economic statistics users

• Watch on Parliament TV: Governance of Statistics
• Inquiry: Governance of Statistics
• Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee

Background

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee is conducting an inquiry examining the role and performance of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA). Created as an independent body in 2008, UKSA has a statutory objective to promote and safeguard official statistics that ‘serve the public good'.

Purpose of the session

In this session, the Committee will hear the perspective of two groups of statistics users: the media and monetary policy community, represented by Chris Giles (Economics Editor, Financial Times) and Dr Andrew Sentance (a former member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee) respectively.

The Committee is expected to focus on the usefulness of currently available statistics, and how well the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) engage with the needs of users. It will also examine UKSA's current governance structures, under which it is responsible for both the production and regulation of official statistics, and how well these are suited to the task of shaping future economic statistics. The Committee is also expected to focus on the Retail Price Index, as a case study of issues with the governance of statistics.

Witnesses

Tuesday 19 March 2019, Grimond Room, Portcullis House

From 10am

• Chris Giles, Economics Editor, Financial Times
• Dr Andrew Sentance, former member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

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