The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 created the UK Statistics Authority and empowered it to determine, and assess compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

ISD is designated by legislation as a producer of official statistics and is obliged to adhere to the Code of Practice and relevant legislation.

National Statistics

Compliance with the code allows official figures and statistical publications to carry the 'National Statistics' label and give recognition that our statistics meet the needs of users, are methodologically sound and of assured quality, politically independent and have been produced and explained to high standards.

Not all ISD publications fall under the Official Statistics banner. Where possible and appropriate, ISD will endeavour to treat such publications in the same manner as Official Statistics publications and for example, provide pre-announcement of publication dates.

The UK Statistics Authority commenced their assessment of ISD's publication against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics in January 2010.

The first three UKSA assessment reports for ISD have been published by the UKSA (see reports 37 - 39). These reports cover Cancer, Cancer Screening and Workforce statistics - a total of 17 publications.

We are delighted that the UKSA confirm that, subject to meeting a small number of requirements, all 17 publications have been designated with the "National Statistics" kite mark. This demonstrates that the statistics meet the standards set out in the UKSA's Code of Practice for Official Statistics - key principles of the Code of Practice include user engagement, assured quality and support to interpretation of the statistics. We feel that these positive assessments are due in part to close working between ISD and the users of statistics in NHS Boards, Scottish Government and elsewhere; and not least to the efforts of everyone, particularly those staff in NHS Boards, who supply data to the national databases.

Requirements

In order to meet our obligations under the code of practice ISD provides

• Timetable of all ISD Statistical releases due for publication in the coming months
• Customer survey (.pdf) to provide information about users' experience of our statistical services
• Details of breaches & exemption or exceptions to the code
• Revisions policy (.pdf) setting out ISD's policy on revising statistics e.g. changes in methodology, errors et cetera
• Confidentiality and disclosure control (.pdf) ? detailing the guidance and practice ISD staff follow to ensure confidentiality and to assess the risk of disclosure of personally identifiable information
• Statement of administrative sources (.pdf) ISD use to produce official statistics
• Charging Policy - for information requests
• Written evidence for assessment of organisational wide policies

More information on Official Statistics

• National Statistics Publications Hub - gateway to UK National Statistics
• The UK Statistics Authority - the Authority's statutory objective is to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics
• Assessment and monitoring of National Statistics - official statistics can only be designated as 'National Statistics' following a formal assessment by the UK Statistics Authority
• Reports of each assessment carried out by the UK Statistics Authority - the list of UK Statistics Authority published reports