Producers of official statistics

The UK Statistics Authority's statutory responsibilities extend to official statistics produced by a wide spectrum of organisations in the public sector, the majority of which are Crown bodies.

The majority of official statistics are produced by statisticians operating under the umbrella of the Government Statistical Service (GSS), working in either the Office for National Statistics, in UK government departments and agencies, or in one of the three devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. More recently, the boundaries of the GSS were extended to cover the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care, which is a Special Health Authority.

Every public body with a significant GSS presence (in terms of statisticians involved in the production or use of official statistics) has its own designated Head of Profession for Statistics, and each of the three devolved administrations has its own Chief Statistician. The Heads of Profession and their staff in each organisation are accountable to the National Statistician acting in her capacity as the Head of the GSS.

The vast majority (80 per cent) of official statistics produced by the GSS are categorised as National Statistics. National Statistics designation signifies that they are produced in accordance with a professional Code of Practice. The related links show each of the organisations producing National Statistics.

Section 6 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 provides that Government ministers can determine that some or all of the statistics produced by a range of non-Crown bodies should also be brought into the scope of 'official statistics' and come within the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. These bodies must be listed in secondary legislation. To date, ministers have made five such orders: the Official Statistics Order 2008, 2009 and 2010, the Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008 and the Official Statistics (Scotland) Amendment Order 2010.