Transforming Official Statistics to Serve Society

Transforming Official Statistics to Serve Society

Wednesday 12 November 2008 at The Royal Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG

This year's annual conference is without doubt our most important to date. It marks the moment when the prospect of a statistical service that meets the needs not just of government, but of all users, has been recognised.

The Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007) does not, however, specify the means by which this is to be achieved. This conference provides the perfect opportunity for both users and the UK Statistics Authority to find common ground, to explore the structures that will ensure that user views are fully indentified and evaluated and that the resulting statistical outputs are not only reliable and trustworthy, but relevant to a participating democracy.

In our drive to ensure that evidence based decision making becomes a reality, the conference will review the full role and scope of official statistics in a 21st century democracy.

Programme

9:15-10:00 Registration and Coffee

10:00: Opening Address

Tony Wright MP, Chairman, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC)

Session 1: The Nature of the Challenge

Chair: Lord Moser

• Measuring Societies Progress. A Key Issue for Policy Making and Democratic Government
  Enrico Giovannini, Chief Statistician, OECD
  
  Biography (Word 71 KB)
  Paper (Word 177 KB)

10:45-11:15 Coffee

Session 2:  Aspects of the Challenge

Chair: Karen Dunnell, National Statistician 

• Informing Society
  Ian Maclean, Statistics Users Forum
  
  Paper and Biography (Word 132 KB)
  Discussion Points (Word 28 KB)
• Local Authority Requirements
  Tim Allen, Director Local Government Analysis and Research
  
  Biography (Word  KB)
• The Interface with Attitude Surveys
  Sir Roger Jowell, Founder Director, Centre for Comparative Social Surveys
  
  Paper (Word 88 KB)
• Improving Relevance through Private Sector Participation 
  Roger Taylor and David Ashby, Dr Foster Holdings
  
  Paper and Biographies (Word 73 KB)
• Accessing statistics, What Users Want from the Web
  Alastair Allan, Sheffield University
  
  Paper and Biography (Word 84 KB)

12:30 -13:45 Lunch 

Session 3 Meeting The Challenge
Chair: Ian Diamond, Chief Executive, ESRC

• Ensuring International Comparibilituy
  Pedro Diaz Munoz,Eurostat
  
  Abstract and Biography (Word 70 KB)
• Putting Effective Procedures in Place
  Richard Alldritt, Head of Assessment, UK Statistics Authority
  
  Paper (Word 83 KB) 
• Today and Tomorrow - Some Thoughts on Relevance
  Guy Goodwin, Director of Population Health & Regional Analysis ONS
  
  Paper (Word 100 KB)
  Biography (Word 68 KB)
• A Devolved Administration View
  Duncan Macniven, Registrar General Scotland
  
  Paper and Biography (Word 88 KB)
• Publications Hub
  Jon Simmons, Divisional Director for I-dissemination ONS
  
  Paper (Word 77 KB)

15:30 - 16:00 Tea

Session 3: Continued

Chair, Jenny Church, Chair Statistics Users Forum

• Supporting Society's Decision Making
  David Rhind, Director UK Statistics Authority
• Open Forum

17:00 Reception