By Jen Woolford, director of population statistics at ONS.
A narrated version of this blog is available at the bottom of the page
High-quality, timely and accurate population statistics are essential to make sure people get the services and support they need, both within their communities and nationwide.
Whether they provide evidence for policies, charity services, public services or help businesses and investors to deliver economic growth across the country, it is vitally important our population statistics reflect the requirements of everyone in society.
The types of services a community needs depend on the types of people who live and work there. Understanding how things like income and health can vary based on characteristics like ethnic group and disability can help decision-makers assess and address disparities. It also means they are able to meet the statutory Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010.
People who use our statistics find a huge benefit in understanding how different life events affect different people. For example, analysis of outcomes over time can help them to understand social mobility or the outcomes for children in care. This helps to give decision-makers a detailed understanding of the drivers and outcomes of disparities and determine how their policies – and ultimately their actions – impact on people’s lives.
Currently the census provides the backbone of these statistics with a rich picture of our society at national and local levels every ten years. However, these statistics become less accurate over the decade and local detail on important topics becomes increasingly out of date between census years.
This summer the ONS has launched a public consultation which covers our proposals to create a sustainable system for producing essential statistics of England and Wales’ population that is flexible and responsive to unexpected change. We have set out our vision in detail, and I welcome views from across the charity sector on the priorities for the future of population and migration statistics, so that they can best meet the needs of everyone over the coming years.
Moving away from reliance on a census every 10 years, timely administrative data – information that we all provide when we access public services like the tax, benefits, health and education systems – could be at the heart of the new system. This could be complemented by survey data, a wider range of other data sources and statistical modelling.
If implemented, the proposed system would respond more effectively to society’s changing needs by giving users high-quality population statistics each year. It would also offer new and additional insights into the changes and movement of our population across different seasons or times of day. For many topics, it would provide much more local information not just once a decade but every year, exploring them in new detail and covering areas not recorded by the census, such as income.
For the next four months, the ONS will be gathering feedback on how far the proposals are likely to meet user needs and where it should be prioritising future research.
Your input will therefore be essential evidence for the National Statistician’s recommendations on the future of population and migration statistics, and the census.
The consultation is easy to complete and is available in English and Welsh. Please contact us at outreach.engagement.community@ons.gov.uk if you need any help.
The consultation closes on 26 October 2023.
