UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 22 January 2013 Boardroom, Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Dame Moira Gibb Mr Guy Goodwin Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy (via audio) Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson
Other Attendees None
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green
Apologies None
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 51st meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday 22 January 2013. No apologies were received. The minutes of the previous meeting on 18 December 2012 were agreed as a correct record. The Chair noted the recent bad weather at Newport and the Board expressed thanks to all staff for coping with the difficult conditions, including the members of the ELT who had met in Newport the Friday before the meeting.
1.2 Progress with actions was reviewed. It was agreed that in future written notes or updates against actions should be provided with the papers in advance of the meeting, rather than verbal updates being provided at the meeting itself, where this was possible. The following actions were reconfirmed and further agreed:
Action: Provide a note about user engagement with development of the ONS website to the next meeting of the ONS Board. Consider this note alongside the planned demonstration of the website at the meeting.
Action: Provide a note on the position with News Releases and attach the note to the minutes of the Board meeting for circulation. The note should reflect the context of the recent PASC evidence session and the steer that the National Statistician had given about News Releases at that session.
Action: Circulate the note tabled at the Board meeting about LFS response rates. Schedule a seminar-style discussion of response rates for a future meeting, incorporating initial findings from the Census linked study to demonstrate the extent of possible bias from declining response rates.
1.3 It was also confirmed that papers about crime statistics and the new series of the National Statistician’s Quality Reviews (NSQR) had been deferred and would be considered at the February meeting of the ONS Board. The Board heard that the planned topic of the first NSQR would be labour market statistics, with another major economic output likely to be the subject of a second review.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)01] 2.1 Mr Watson provided an update on key events and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 Discussions with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) had taken place in respect of the possible involvement of ONS in the administrative data centre initiative. BIS were keen for ONS to play a leading role, perhaps with the data centre in England established first and centres in the other nations to follow. BIS had asked the ESRC to draft a business case, and the National Statistician and the Director General were due to meet with the ESRC to further consider. The ESRC and BIS envisaged that a partnership relationship between the ESRC and ONS might be most suitable.
2.3 It was agreed that a paper setting out the ONS view on its possible role in the administrative data centre proposals would be considered at the February 19 meeting of the ONS Board. This would precede further discussion at the Authority Board meeting on March 5, to include the consideration of the role of the Authority in the initiative too.
2.4 The Board considered the key issues paper, agreed it was still very useful, but also requested that new developments be more clearly highlighted or ranked within the text.
2.5 Progress and events in the following three areas were reviewed: the start of the Blue Book 2013 and 2014 projects and the challenges related to both; the submission of a revised business case for Electronic Data Collection to the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group, together with the associated issues concerning the supplier ; and, the initiation of infraction proceedings by Eurostat against ONS in respect of failure to provide certain data tables.
Action: The Board agreed it wished to receive regular updates on each of these topics at future meetings, and in addition, requested that a substantive paper about the Blue Book work also be submitted to a future meeting.
2.6 The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Pete Benton had met recently to discuss the Beyond 2011 project. In this context Ministerial concerns about the creation of large new databases had been considered again. The Board heard that, for the Beyond 2011 project to be viable, it was likely that the creation of such a database was unavoidable. However, it was agreed that the issue would be further investigated by ONS working with the Government Digital Service to confirm that this was the case. International experts on the subject could then be engaged to provide ONS with further advice and evidence. The ESRC would be a good source to help identify such expertise.
3. Finance Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(13)02] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided an update for the ONS Board on the financial position of the Authority as at the end of November 2012. A verbal update on the December position was provided at the meeting, and this showed little difference in the overall picture. A small under spend was anticipated in the financial year, and the under spend was trivial in comparison to the overall budget.
3.2 Recent developments with Eurostat grant funding and with the contractual dispute were reviewed. It was hoped that both issues would be resolved before the end of the financial year.
4. ONS Strategy [SA(ONS)(13)03] 4.1 Mr Watson introduced a draft ONS strategy and recorded his thanks to a group of Deputy Directors who had been working intensively on the strategy over recent weeks. These were Tricia Dodd, Jason Bradbury, Jan Jones and Sally Evans.
4.2 The Board welcomed the draft. The work looked to be about 85 per cent of the way to conclusion. A central element to finalising the strategy would be to clearly describe the core functions and aims of ONS. A clear articulation of what ONS was for, how it differed from other statistics providers, its unique position and why people used its statistics would be helpful. This could include reference to comparability, consistency, quality, standards and access to data.
4.3 A second key feature of the strategy should be a clearer sense and recognition of the wider economic environment, the resource pressures ONS and the public purse faced and an ONS commitment to efficiency. A high-level account of drivers and restraints should be set out ‘up-front’ in the document. The section describing the ‘wide-ranging portfolio’ did not necessarily sit well in this context.
4.4 Another area of discussion was the use of the term ‘customer’ as opposed to ‘user’ in the document. The meeting heard that ‘customer’ was intended to signal to staff the importance of all the people who used ONS statistics, rather than to denote a paying customer or department. The Authority (and GSS) strategy currently referred to ‘users’.
4.5 The following further points were made in discussion.
i. People were ultimately a means not an end. It was essential to have motivated staff but the emphasis in the strategy should not be disproportionate or risk appearing too self- serving. ii. Similarly, the emphasis on increasing the impact of ONS might be open to misinterpretation. A strategy which suggested that an aim of ONS was to become more important could be regarded as self-serving. ‘Use’ could be referred to as well as, or instead of, ‘impact’. Certain outputs (i.e. babies’ names) might be popular with the media and receive widespread coverage and so be seen to have ‘impact’, but this was not necessarily sufficient reason to produce them. iii. The section relating to competition could benefit from redrafting. It was helpful to set out the competitive environment, but it was not clear whether ONS was competing or collaborating in this context. Reference to the ‘competitive advantage’ enjoyed by ONS should be reconsidered. iv. The difference between an ‘organisational value’ and an ‘ONS principle’ wasn’t clear and it might be the case that only one of these sets of points was needed. v. The reference to the aim of having ‘delighted’ customers should be deleted. vi. The section relating to Europe might helpfully emphasise leadership and best practice across Europe and the international arena generally, rather than referring to visions or objectives related to the European Union. vii. The time frame for delivering objectives was a little uncertain and sometimes inconsistently referred to. For example, it could be inferred that some objectives were already in train, while others were new but this could be made clearer. viii. The overall strategy addressed a ten year period. A road-map or timetable showing in broad terms how and when objectives would be achieved during that period would be helpful.
4.6 The meeting agreed that the strategy would be redrafted in light of discussion and presented to the February meeting of the Authority Board and any further discussion at the ONS Board as necessary. The revised draft would include a forward from the Director General. The new section to be drafted on the core and other functions of ONS could be a useful free-standing document to refer to for all Authority non-executive directors.
Action: Strategy to be redrafted in light of discussion and submitted to the next meeting of the Authority Board.
5. Planning and Priorities [SA(ONS)(13)04] 5.1 Mr Watson introduced an updated analysis of plans, priorities and budgets. Over the period 2008/09 to 2013/14 it was calculated that ONS would incur a 21 per cent reduction in funding, or 30 per cent in real terms using the GDP deflator. Following the previous meeting further tactical savings had been agreed and these would include a recruitment freeze. However, the overall position remained that ONS needed an additional £20 million funding and would shortly be entering into negotiations with Treasury about this.
5.2 The Board considered the forthcoming negotiations and how these might best be approached. It would be helpful to present very clearly what any additional funding would be spent on and what the benefits would be. For example, the ‘invest to save’ nature of Electronic Data Collection (EDC) should be emphasised, and the potential savings to be derived should be modelled and included in the case to be presented. Equally it was important not to understate the impact of not receiving additional funding. For example the possibility of abandoning key projects like EDC and outputs should be clearly stated.
5.3 It should also be made clear that ONS would publicly consult on any such cuts and would need to be open with users about the reasons for those cuts, in accordance with the Code of Practice. In this event the Public Administration Select Committee would also need to be informed directly and engaged on the issue.
5.4 By common consent workforce planning was acknowledged to be one of the weaker aspects of the current planning work. It was agreed that it was critical that this was improved as quickly as possible. A situation could not be allowed to develop where ONS had significantly more staff than it might need. The ONS Board would review the situation with workforce planning regularly in future meetings.
Action: Preparations for negotiations to proceed in light of discussion. A note on the outcome of the meeting with Treasury scheduled for 1 February to be circulated to ONS Board members.
Action: An update on the situation to be presented to the next meeting of the Authority Board.
Action: Substantive consideration of workforce planning to be scheduled into the Board’s forward agenda, with a view to consideration in March.
5.5 The meeting went on to consider the broader question of the present ONS operating model, whether alternatives models were possible and what role income-generation might play in those models. Strategic partnerships with universities and other external bodies should also be considered in this context.
Action: It was agreed that a ‘brainstorm’ type session should be scheduled around a future meeting of the ONS Board to consider the wider question of long-term operating models and income generation. This session might be scheduled for March alongside the discussion of workforce planning.
6. Web Data Access Project [SA(ONS)(13)05] 6.1 Mr Goodwin introduced a paper which provided a high level overview of the project, a review of its current status and risks and issues. The meeting heard that , but the risk to delivery still remained. A delay in delivery would imply further cost.
7. Any Other Business 7.1 The meeting concluded at 13:00.The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Titchfield on Tuesday 19 February 2013.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 19 February 2013 Titchfield
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Dame Moira Gibb Mr Guy Goodwin Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson
Other Attendees Mr Andrew Dilnot (for item 2) Mr Ian Cope (for items 2, 3 and 4) Ms Laura Dewis (for item 2) Ms Jennet Woolford (for item 6)
Secretariat Ms Sarah Green Ms Vanessa Holden
Apologies None
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 52nd meeting of the ONS Board was held in Titchfield on Tuesday 19 February 2013. No apologies were received. The minutes of the previous meeting on 22 January were agreed as a correct record, subject to one amendment.
1.2 Progress with actions was reviewed. Mr Watson confirmed that the ONS media team were fully aware of the steer provided by Ms Matheson regarding the phasing out of news releases and would be acting on it. The Board also heard that ONS had met with the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance to discuss possible solutions to concerns about the creation of large databases.
Action: Seek clarification from Director-General’s’s office regarding progress at Action 1/13(ONS) 2.5 i-iii and amend action update provided by ONS accordingly.
2. Web Update 2.1 Mr Cope and Ms Dewis provided a presentation on the new website, which highlighted the launch of new theme pages, improvements to the search function and general accessibility, and plans to upgrade the content management system. The Board welcomed the significant progress made in improving the ONS website.
Action: Circulate links to further new theme pages to members of the ONS Board.
2.2 Members discussed the editorial challenges associated with disseminating data via a more sophisticated website and noted that ONS would require robust policies and procedures to ensure information on the website was both balanced and up-to-date.
Action: Consider ‘best-practice’ websites of other NSIs, with a particular focus on how they have managed to continue to disseminate data appropriately via digital and social networking channels.
2.3 The importance of long-running time series to a broad range of users was highlighted, and it was agreed that this be reflected in the site. The Board also considered improvements to the ONS site in the context of the broader statistical service and with regards to the future of the publication hub.
3. Summary of Key Accounts [SA(ONS)(13)11] 3.1 Mr Cope introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with a summary on the end of year assessments from key government accounts. He noted that, overall, ONS had seen an improvement in the responses received this year compared with last year. The Bank of England had provided an overall assessment of satisfied; Office of Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) as neither satisfied nor dissatisfied; and Treasury as satisfied. However, the Board heard that differences in this year’s scope made it difficult to draw direct comparisons.
3.2 It was also noted that since the circulation of the Board paper, an additional three responses had been received and will be included in full in next month’s paper.
3.3 The Board noted that the OBR had responded that they were dissatisfied with the quality of data from ONS. Mr Cope explained that this response was the result of a specific issue which ONS were confident could be resolved via the publication of Blue Book 2013.
Action: It was confirmed that a full paper on the Key Accounts will be provided to the ONS Board at its meeting in March, and also to include:
i. a history of how this approach to managing the key accounts evolved; and ii. whether the current approach to managing accounts is the correct one.
4. Variation in Trends Between the Two Main Sources of Crime Statistics for England and Wales [SA(ONS)(13)12] 4.1 Mr Cope introduced a paper, providing an analysis of variation in crime trends between the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime, and the response to the publication of this analysis.
4.2 The Board discussed the divergence in crime trends, which showed a downward trend in ratio between CSEW reported incidents and crimes recorded by police from 2007/2008 onwards. Members also discussed the progress of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s (HMIC) review of crime statistics - which is expected to be published in the near future - and the next steps for ONS.
4.3 The Board also considered recent work underway in the National Statistician’s Office, focused on auditing administrative data to ensure the quality of official statistics.
Action: Secretariat to consider scheduling a discussion regarding the auditing of administrative data used to produce official statistics, in light of work underway in the NSO.
5. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)06a] and [SA(ONS)(13)06b] 5.1 Mr Watson introduced a paper with an update on key events that had taken place since the last meeting.
5.2 Neil Wooding is joining ONS as Director for Organisational Capability and Performance in early April. Ian Cope is taking up the post of Director of Population and Demography on 4 March, at which time Guy Goodwin will move to the position of Director of Analysis and Dissemination. The meeting heard that Joe Grice has now also joined the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), working another full day with ONS each week (that he had previously spent at the Department of Transport).
5.3 A Gateway review held in January assessed the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA2010) programme as being at amber/red status, meaning the delivery of the programme is in doubt, with major risks or issues in a number of key areas. The next review is expected to be held in April.
Action: Next month’s scheduled paper on Blue Book 2013 and 2014 to include a full account of the ESA2010 programme.
5.4 Mr Watson introduced a paper summarising current key issues.
5.5 A workshop was recently held on the productivity conundrum at the Bank of England. This addressed labour market issues and was well received by stakeholders. ONS also plans to release an article on the productivity conundrum next week.
Action: ONS to prepare regular briefings on the productivity conundrum for ONS Board, including key points and lines to take.
5.6 The meeting heard that ONS was due to announce how the cash transfers from the Bank of England Asset Purchase Facility to HM Treasury will be included in the Public Sector Finance statistics on 21 February 2013.
Action: Secretariat to circulate briefing provided to Chair of the Authority regarding the Asset Purchase Facility Decision to the Authority Board, and to keep members informed of developments.
5.6 The Board considered work currently underway within ONS with regards to statistics to inform the Scottish referendum debate, which is being lead at the Deputy Director level. The Board also heard about work being progressed across the GSS and discussed the role other stakeholders might play in informing the debate. The ONS Board agreed some issues would require consideration at the Authority Board level.
5.7 The Board welcomed the revised layout of the Key Issues report, which was useful.
6. Finance Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(13)07] 6.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided an update for the ONS Board on the financial position of the Authority as at the end of December 2012. A verbal update on the January 2013 position was also provided at the meeting, which showed a small under spend that was expected to grow by the end of the financial year. However, the Board heard that the Authority expected to fully utilise the under spend and was considering a range of ‘mini-projects’ it could use to do so.
6.2 The Chair thanked Mr Layland for his update and noted that the current presentation of the financial report was clear and helpful.
6.3 The meeting heard that a strategy for the ONS Finance Department was currently being developed and would be provided to the ELT for approval.
Action: Confirmed that a strategy for the ONS Finance Department would be provided to the ONS Board, alongside the ONS budget, following its sign-off by the ELT.
7. ONS Strategy [SA(ONS)(13)08] 7.1 Mr Watson introduced a revised ONS Strategy, noting the most significant changes since the Board had last reviewed it. Reflecting the Board’s discussions, the use of the terms ‘customer’ and user’ had been reworked, section four –where we want to be – had been significantly redrafted, and the context around ONS’s own position had been strengthened. Following feedback from the ELT, the vision had been shortened, with the intention that it be more memorable for staff.
7.2 Members of the Board agreed that the strategy was much improved. Members provided further textual comments, and requested that point 3.2.2, regarding “downward pressure on ONS budgets”, be redrafted.
Action: ONS Strategy to be amended in light of comments provided by Board members, and was approved for publication.
7.3 The Board thanked all involved in drafting the ONS Strategy, and recorded their particular thanks to Mr Watson.
7.4 The Board heard that work was underway on both a Strategic Roadmap and the ONS Business Plan.
Action: It was confirmed that the draft ONS Business Plan was scheduled for discussion at the March ONS Board meeting.
8. Planning and Priorities 8.1 Mr Watson provided an update on continuing work with planning and priorities, since he gave a presentation to the ONS Board in January. The Board heard that similar presentations had since been provided to both the Authority Board and to Treasury.
8.2 In response, Treasury had written to ONS, requesting that it demonstrate both that sound financial processes had been in place to meet financial challenges; and the reasons a funding gap had emerged. ONS provided a response, setting out:
i. how much ONS had expected to achieve through efficiencies; ii. how much ONS had expected to achieve through output savings; iii. exactly how much was achieved; and iv. how much was lost in terms of income.
8.3 Mr Layland had also met with the Major Projects Authority and with the Treasury spending team. Some indication of whether ONS can expect additional funding is anticipated in the coming weeks.
Action: Secretariat to schedule a meeting between the Chair of the Authority Board and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to discuss future funding of ONS, and provide necessary briefing.
9. National Statistics Quality Reviews [SA(ONS)(13)09] 9.1 Ms Woolford introduced a paper which informed the ONS Board on the re-establishment of the programme of National Statistics Quality Reviews (NSQRs).
9.2 In January, the ELT approved the NSQR objectives (at Annex 1 to the paper). Both the Labour Market Statistics and National Accounts will undergo NSQRs during the first year of the programme, after which time the NSQR programme will be reviewed.
9.3 The Board considered how the NSQR programme fits with the Authority’s programme of assessment. The Board heard that in developing the NSQR programme, the ONS Quality Centre team had been working closely with the Authority’s Monitoring and Assessment team. Members were advised that while assessments will continue to consider statistics against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, the NSQR will be able to explore methodological issues in depth.
9.4 The Board also considered how the NSQR programme might be extended across the GSS.
9.5 The Board agreed that involving external experts in the process was a particular strength of the NSQR programme and this aspect could be further developed in the specification and dissemination of the programme.
9.6 The Board also considered its own role with regard to the reviews. It was agreed that it should have visibility of reports but that they be provided to the Board only in those cases where the NSQR process had identified the quality of the statistics as being a matter of particular concern.
10. Proposals on ONS’s Role in Administrative Data Research Centres [SA(ONS)(13)10] 10.1 Mr Goodwin introduced a paper which outlined proposals for the ONS response to the recommendations of the Administrative Data Force (ADTF), including establishing Administrative Data Research Centres (ADRCs).
10.2 The Board agreed that there was a role for ONS to play in the context on ADRCs, and that the focus should now be on establishing the nature of that involvement. Members also agreed that the issues of principle document (at Annex C to the paper), which identified the key points for ONS to consider in assessing the merits and disadvantages of any role in ADRCs, was helpful.
Action: ONS to proceed with negotiations with the ESRC with a view to establishing a strategic partnership.
Action: Provide Issues of Principles document (Annex C to the paper) to the ESRC to assist in furthering these discussions.
10.3 The Authority Board was scheduled to discuss proposals on ONS’s role in ADRCs, together with the role of the Authority itself, when it meets on 5 March. The meeting considered the additional information the Authority Board might find useful in its discussions.
Action: Update current Administrative Data Research Centre paper for 5 March meeting of Authority Board to include (in as far as possible by the meeting): • the outcome of subsequent discussions with ESRC; and • definitive legal advice on constitutional and governance issues, further to the legal advice provided in the original paper.
Action: Conduct a full cost-assessment of the possible organisation models proposed in establishing Administrative Data Research Centres.
11. Any Other Business 11.1 The meeting concluded at 1:00pm. The next meeting of the ONS Board will be held in London on Thursday 21 March 2013.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Thursday, 21 March 2013 London
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Dame Moira Gibb Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson
Other Attendees Mr Peter Fullerton (for item 5) Ms Helen Patterson (for item 7) Mr Andrew Dilnot, Professor David Rhind, Mr Paul Woobey (all for item 10)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green
Apologies Mr Guy Goodwin
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 53rd meeting of the ONS Board was held in London on Thursday 21 March 2013. Apologies were received from Mr Goodwin. The minutes of the previous meeting on 19 February 2013 were agreed as a correct record.
1.2 Progress with actions was reviewed. An action to provide an update on the productivity conundrum (2/13 5.5) was overdue and it was agreed this should be produced and circulated. All other actions were in hand or complete.
Action: Circulate new briefing on the productivity conundrum as soon as available
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)13a] and [SA(ONS)(13)13b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key events and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 A national strike by members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Trades Union had taken place on 20 March. About 13 per cent of the ONS work force had participated. The impact of the strike had been managed without disruption to business at ONS.
2.3 The Board congratulated all concerned on reaching Level 1 of the Information Assurance Maturity Model (IAMM) and agreed that they would welcome further information about what this meant in practice.
2.4 The meeting went on to consider other issues including: the treatment of the Asset Purchase Facility in the Public Sector Finance Statistics (PSFS); the recent meeting of the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) in New York and a discussion held there about ‘big data’; three forthcoming internal audit reports which were of the opinion ‘improvement required’; and, governance and the ONS 2012 programme.
Action: Provide a one page description of what reaching Level 1 of the IAMM means in practice. Attach this note to the minutes of the meeting and circulate the two together.
Action: Restore the treatment of the Asset Purchase Facility in the PSFS to the monthly list of key issues. Update the text to reflect the current situation.
Action: Circulate (i) the National Statistician's note of the meeting about big data (ii) the recent Executive Leadership Team (ELT) paper on the sources, uses and application of big data and (iii) anything else relevant to the topic.
Action: Include three current Internal Audits of the opinion 'Improvement Required' on the agenda of the April meeting of the ONS Board (Project, Programme and Portfolio Management, Business Case Governance and Approval, and, Governance ONS 2012)
Action: Include a formal discussion of ONS governance, with accompanying paper, on the agenda of the June meeting of the ONS Board.
2.5 Mr Watson introduced the monthly key issues report. The EU proposal to replace all existing regulations about trade and business statistics with a single Framework Regulation Integrating Business Statistics (FRIBS) was the one new issue rated with ‘high’ severity. A major project would be needed to plan for and resource the substantial effects that were anticipated on areas including National Accounts, Labour Market, Prices and the Interdepartmental Business Register.
2.6 The Board reiterated how useful the presentation of the key issues paper was. The monthly management information would be improved by reinstating the regular chart showing numbers of website visitors each month over the past five or so years.
Action: Reinstate the chart showing visitors to the ONS website by month and year in the regular monthly management information to the ONS Board.
3. Finance Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(13)14] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided an update on the financial position as at 31 January 2013 and gave a verbal update on the February position. The estimated under spend for the present financial year remained at less than one per cent of the total budget. There were some risks associated with spending about 50 per cent of the capital budget in the final quarter of the year but the meeting heard that these were manageable.
3.2 Mr Watson provided the meeting with further information about funding in the next two financial years. Treasury had announced a further cut of 1 per cent in both 2013/14 and 2014/15 to the budgets of unprotected departments. This equated to a £1.5 million reduction in budget for ONS and the Authority.
3.3 A decision on the ONS submission for additional funding for 2013/15 was now expected to be made no earlier than mid-May and could be made as late as June, when it might be announced together with the comprehensive settlement for 2015/16. The Board considered next steps and agreed actions for the Director General to pursue.
Action: Director General to conduct appropriate communication and other activities in relation to the process of agreeing a budget settlement for the three year period 2013/14 to 2015/16.
4. Business Plan 2013/14 [SA(ONS)(13)15] 4.1 Mr Watson introduced an early draft of the 2013/14 ONS business plan. The meeting acknowledged the difficulties of producing the plan given the present uncertainty around budgets. It was agreed that a revised draft could be submitted to the Board in preparation for publication when more information was known.
4.2 The Board considered the plan and it was agreed that a revised draft should include a table which showed how the plan aligns with and helps to meet the 15 strategic priorities of the Statistics Authority, as contained in the recently published Authority statement of strategy. The following points were made in discussion for further consideration:
i. re-word the 'main aims' section to be more assertive and less neutral; ii. revise the text around pre-release access to indicate an aim to reduce such access; iii. develop success indicators for communications activity which are more quantitative in nature, and, indicators which give a deeper understanding of impact, beyond simple counts of hits or number of positive media stories; and iv. review the general tone of the plan, which might currently appear to be overly 'upbeat' in the current budgetary climate.
Action: Submit a revised draft business plan no earlier than to the May meeting of the ONS Board, and to include a table showing alignment to the Authority strategy and reflect other drafting comments.
5. Workforce Planning [SA(ONS)(13)16] 5.1 Mr Fullerton introduced a paper which provided an update on the proposed approach to workforce planning. Three new strands of work were in hand. These were
(i) work by the Organisational Capability and Performance Directorate (OCP) to consider how best to understand skill and capability requirements at ONS, using the Beyond 2011 programme as a pilot area for developing such an approach; (ii) cross-organisation work to model the ONS workforce that could be used to project future needs; and (iii) the application of an affordability model, as developed by Finance Division, where different assumptions about demand and supply can be inputted and workforce costs calculated.
5.2 A small short-term task group was being established to oversee the work and set the direction for the ongoing workforce planning approach. The intention was to provide a robust basis for decision making, consistent with the ONS and Authority strategies and flexible enough to cope with different scenarios for the future.
5.3 The Board welcomed these developments. A further necessary stage in the work would be to link skills and capability into workforce planning. Understanding the longer term needs of the organisation, which skills could be developed in house and which might better be bought in, was critical.
5.4 It was agreed that a revised paper on workforce planning, incorporating skills planning and a longer term view, should be submitted to the May or June meeting of the ONS Board. In the meantime, the existing skills strategy would be re-circulated to Board members.
5.4 While uncertainty continued over future funding settlements tight recruitment controls were at present in place. The meeting heard that in practice these controls amounted to a recruitment freeze with targeted exceptions. The Board took reassurance from this position.
Action: Ensure that skills and capability are linked to workforce planning. Re-circulate the existing skills strategy. Consider a revised workforce planning paper at the May or June meeting of the ONS Board, and this to incorporate skills planning and a longer term view.
6. National Accounts Projects Update [SA(ONS)(13)17] 6.1 Mrs Walker introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with an overview of the Blue Book 2013, Blue Book 2014 and the European System of Accounts (ESA)10 / International Monetary Fund Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6) projects.
6.2 The Board were reassured to learn that good progress was being made but noted the scale of the challenge and the risks involved. It was agreed that the ONS Board would continue to receive periodic and substantive progress reports. The next progress report should include a timeline of key points which presented most risk. It should also include a full account of engagement with stakeholders including the Bank and Treasury as the work progressed.
Action: Ensure that the ONS Board continues to receive substantive papers about progress with the Blue Books 2013, 2014 and with the European System of Accounts. Include in these reports (i) a timeline of key points which present most risk and (ii) a full account of engagement with key stakeholders.
7. Key Accounts Assessment Summary [SA(ONS)(13)18] 7.1 Ms Patterson presented a paper on feedback received from ‘key account holders’ on ONS performance for the year 2012/13. The paper also considered options for collecting key accounts assessments in future. The meeting considered the strengths and weaknesses of the present system and the following points were made in discussion:
i. good relationships with key users and intelligence gathering related to this were essential; ii. a single undifferentiated approach to users was not sensible – if there was differentiation in the current approach it was not reflected clearly in the paper; iii. the focus of key accounts appeared unduly concentrated on government departments when ONS had a wider role and responsibilities; iv. a report from a single ‘named’ key account holder was not necessarily conducive to developing good stakeholder relationships; v. it was evidently important that the person responsible for the assessment had the full range of information about the relationship between ONS and the whole department or organisation; vi. assessments should be communicated in a way that involved publication of the narrative basis of the assessment in addition to scores which were given; and vii. it would be sensible to coordinate further work with the proposed second Authority survey of opinion formers.
7.2 The meeting concluded that while the present key accounts relationships and assessments had strengths and could provide very useful information for the organisation it was important to widen the range of users consulted and also to address the issues raised around process and presentation. On this basis the Board agreed to remit the issue back to the ONS Executive Leadership Team.
8. Response Rates to Household Surveys [SA(ONS)(13)19] 8.1 Mrs Walker introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with a summary of issues and business activity surrounding current response rates to household surveys, particularly the Labour Force Survey (LFS). In addition an overview of response rates to ONS business surveys was also provided.
8.2 The Board heard that a programme of work was in hand to better understand and address in the short to medium term the reasons for falling response rates. The forthcoming National Statistics Quality Review of labour market statistics would include a further examination of response rates and related issues on the LFS. In the long term it was anticipated that the national and international trend of declining response rates would be best addressed by the development and implementation of electronic data collection methods.
9. Any Other Business 9.1 The meeting concluded at 12:05. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Newport on Tuesday 23 April.
10. Income Generation and Alternative Business Models – Workshop Discussion 10.1 The Chair welcomed Professor Rhind, Mr Dilnot and Mr Woobey to an ONS Board workshop discussion around income generation and alternative business models to which all members of the Authority Board had been invited.
10.2 Apologies had been received from Mr Alldritt, Dr Bowe and Mr Dasgupta.
10.3 Mr Woobey gave a presentation which set out some of the issues involved, including ongoing discussion with Treasury around future funding settlements and the continuing downward pressure on budgets. There were long term strategic considerations and also short term tactical considerations involved in the issue.
10.4 The meeting considered the context and experiences of other organisations including the experiences of Ordnance Survey. It was clear that a fundamental move from one business operating model to another involved non-trivial problems including conflicting policy domains and changes in skills requirements.
10.5 It was agreed that it would be useful to establish any precedents or similar models, domestically or internationally, from which ONS could learn. The BBC's public service arm is one example which could be of value to look at, as is the Eurostat 'powered by Google' model. A further relatively recent case study which could be considered was the Environment Agency’s experiences in looking at alternate business models.
10.6 It was also suggested that it would be useful to develop a set of policy considerations, similar to that developed for the Administrative Data Centre proposals, which could set out boundaries and areas which potentially conflicted or were inconsistent with statistical legislation, the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and so on.
10.7 In the long term, a strategic model based around ONS becoming a supplier of shared services to government, using its expertise, legislative position and access to administrative data, might be further developed.
10.8 In the short term, it was clear that there was no set of viable options which could readily transform the ONS business model. However, further work would be conducted, following recent discussions with Treasury, to look at a limited range of options. These would include cost-recovery around activities like training and, tentatively, the possibility of sponsorship in return for services.
10.9 The possibility of advertising was much more problematic for a number of reasons including the risk to reputation. Initial and discrete work would be conducted into the likely market value of advertising, and to establish if there were any precedents for other government bodies which were not established as trading funds accepting commercial advertising.
Action: Mr Watson and Mr Woobey to take forward proposals around income generation and alternate business models in light of discussion and to report back to a future meeting of the ONS Board.
10.10 The Chair thanked all attendees for their participation and the workshop concluded at 13:05.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 23 April 2013 Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Dame Moira Gibb Mr Guy Goodwin Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson
Other Attendees Ms Alison Jarvis (for item 3) Ms Laura Dewis (for item 5) Mr Glen Everett (for item 6) Ms Sally Evans and Dr Neil Wooding (both for item 7)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green
Apologies Mr Paul Layland
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 54th meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday 23 April 2013. Apologies were received from Mr Layland. The minutes of the previous meeting on 21 March 2013 were agreed as a correct record.
1.2 The Chair congratulated Ms Fairbairn on her appointment as a non-executive member of the Authority and welcomed her to her first meeting of the ONS Board.
1.3 Progress with actions was reviewed. Actions were in hand or complete. The Board further agreed that
Action: Information about planned communications activities around the ‘productivity puzzle’ would be provided to the next meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: It was confirmed that a paper on ‘Big Data’ would be provided for the September meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: It was agreed that the Secretariat would circulate the original chart showing monthly website visitors by years and that ONS would provided updated versions of this chart for each future meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: The Secretariat would arrange a date for further consideration of income generation and include this on the forward agenda, further to the workshop discussion on this topic held on 21 March.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)20a] and [SA(ONS)(13)20b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key events and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board. He had spoken at five staff meetings on three sites to discuss the new ONS strategy and the roadmap to achieving the strategy, and these meetings had been attended by over 500 staff.
2.2 The Board considered the Electronic Data Collection (EDC) Programme and the recent review of this by the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority (MPA) which rated the Programme as ‘red’. The report had indentified a lack of pace with the EDC programme and had made a range of helpful and constructive proposals to address this.
2.3 Action being taken in response to the report included a review of delivery mechanisms, a review of strategic alignment between the EDC and the Beyond 2011 programmes, and the appointment of a new Senior Responsible Owner. The Board noted the importance of the EDC programme and of the MPA report and agreed to consider these further at the June meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: Include a report from the EDC programme on the agenda for the June meeting of the ONS Board.
2.4 The meeting considered recent criticism of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics by the British Chambers of Commerce, and considered the issue of GDP revisions more broadly. The UK produced one of the fastest first estimates of GDP in the world, taking 25 days from the end of the fieldwork period. Eurostat was seeking to harmonise GDP first release at no more than 30 days. At present many Member States took longer than this. 2.5 Revisions in the UK from quarter 1 to quarter 3 were up to a range of +/- 0.3 per cent but often smaller. Revisions which were made one or two years after the first release could be significantly larger. The Board requested further information on both types of revision, together with some comparative analysis which showed how the revisions to GDP in the UK compared with those made in other countries.
Action: Circulate an analysis of GDP revisions to members of the ONS Board, to include both monthly and annual revisions and international comparators.
2.6 Mr Watson introduced the monthly key issues report. Topics considered included trade statistics and the extent to which e-commerce was fully captured within the present figures. The Board agreed that correctly handling communications around this issue was as important resolving the technical issues, given that these statistics were particularly likely to be the continued subject of close scrutiny.
2.7 The Board also discussed consumer prices and the Consumer Prices Advisory Committee, and the Beyond 2011 programme and its consideration by a forthcoming meeting of the Home Affairs Cabinet Committee (HAC) due to be held on 14 May. The Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Authority Chair would both attend this meeting.
Action: Report of meeting of the HAC of 14 May to be circulated when available.
3. Finance Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(13)21] 3.1 Ms Jarvis introduced a paper which provided an update on the financial position as at the end of February 2013 and gave a verbal update on the March position.
3.2 The meeting heard that, consistent with previous forecasts, a small under spend in the order of £3 million was forecast for the financial year 2012/13. The financial year had concluded with all controls in place and rated ‘green’. Prior to confirmation through the end of year audit this represented a good position and the Board expressed their thanks.
3.3 Work was currently focussed on preparing for a visit by Treasury officials to the Newport site on 25 April, and a meeting subsequent to that due to be held between the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (CST), the Authority Chair and the ONS Director General on 29 April. It was hoped that these meetings would provide a clearer picture on the likely budget settlement for the years 2013/14 and 2014/15.
Action: Information about the outcome of the meeting with the CST to be circulated to Authority members when available.
3.4 The meeting further considered the monthly financial report and agreed that briefing for non executive members in interpreting the presentation would be organised.
Action: Secretariat to arrange finance briefing for Dr Levy and Ms Fairbairn with the Chief Finance Officer.
4. Internal Audit Reports: Project, Programme and Portfolio Management [SA(ONS)(13)22], ONS 2012 Vision – Implementation [SA(ONS)(13)23], ONS 2012 Vision – Evaluation [SA(ONS)(13)24], Business Case Governance and Approval [SA(ONS)(13)25]
4.1 The Chair introduced discussion around four internal audit reports and summarised the arrangements for considering these, as agreed with the Chair of the Authority’s Audit Committee. All reports which are of the opinion ‘improvement required’ or worse are to be considered by the ONS Board. Management responses to internal audit reports were to be made within two weeks of receipt of the report in accordance with the Internal Audit Charter. In this instance management responses had taken up to two months to provide, with one response outstanding.
4.2 The meeting heard that in this instance the reports related to the Organisational Capability and Performance (OCP) Directorate which had recently undergone a change of executive director. During this period of transition management responses to the audit reports had not been progressed as usual. It was confirmed that normal practice was to respond within two weeks and that measures would be put in place to ensure that this happened in future, and, that this would be communicated to the Audit Committee Chair.
Action: Establish a system to automatically alert the Director General's office when management responses to Internal Audit reports are overdue.
Action: The Director General to write to the Chair of the Audit Committee in respect of late management responses to recent internal audit reports.
4.3 The meeting then considered the four internal audit reports in turn, each of which were of the opinion improvement required. The report on Project, Programme and Portfolio Management had been considered by the Audit Committee at its March meeting. Work was in hand to address the recommendations in the report, which focussed on benefits realisation.
4.4 Two reports focussed on implementation and evaluation of the ONS 2012 programme. The recommendations of these reports included the need to provide an account of governance changes made within ONS according to 2012 programme and of subsequent developments, and also to evaluate progress in pushing decision-making further down the organisational structure as envisaged in the 2012 report.
4.5 The fourth report focussed on the process for making and approving business cases. A management response to the report was outstanding.
4.6 The Board considered the reports. It was acknowledged that estimating the cost of major change programmes and tracking the benefits of major change programmes was an area which ONS had historically found challenging and that further work in this area would be beneficial. The following actions were further agreed.
Action: Paper on ONS governance scheduled for June meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: Circulate outstanding management response to Business Case Governance and Approval internal audit report when this was available.
Action: Schedule an in-depth discussion of benefits realisation at a future meeting of the ONS Board, to include consideration of the costs and benefits of major change programmes.
4.7 The meeting also noted that the ONS 2012 programme had planned that the annual staff ‘people survey’ be used as one measure for evaluating the programme’s success. It was agreed that a discussion of the results of the autumn 2012 People Survey should be rescheduled for a future meeting of the ONS Board. These could be considered alongside an account of the measures taken in response to the survey results.
Action: Schedule a discussion of the findings and responses to the 2012 people survey for a future meeting of the ONS Board.
5. Improving Dissemination Programme Update [SA(ONS)(13)26] 5.1 Ms Dewis gave a presentation on progress with the Improving Dissemination Programme (IDP). This included: an account of conceptual work undertaken to create ‘digital first’ products; the deployment of theme pages on the ONS website and their positive impact on the volume of user visits; a summary of insights gained from users about their needs, and; the results of a comparative review of the ONS website with major UK news and media websites and with the websites of other National Statistical Institutes (NSIs).
5.2 The meeting thanked Ms Dewis for a comprehensive and informative presentation and the following issues were further considered in discussion:
i. the classification of users and the difficulties inherent in capturing the views of occasional (and potential) users who were by definition likely to be less vocal than regular users; ii. further development of the time series functionality of the website and how this would represent an important step to ensuring that expert users were well served by the site; iii. the need to be careful in making comparisons between the ONS website and those such as that of the BBC which were performing many different jobs; iv. work around optimising the ONS’s place on Google search lists and some of the difficulties and potential expense involved; v. the best sites of other NSIs, including that of New Zealand’s, and the potential to work with these organisations to learn from their experience; and vi. the relative importance of optimising mobile access and the need to prioritise within a limited budget.
5.3 The Board agreed to consider the IDP again at its June meeting when it would receive a presentation of the forthcoming Digital Dissemination Strategy.
Action: Review the Digital Dissemination Strategy and further consider progress with the IDP at the June meeting of the ONS Board.
6. Measuring National Wellbeing Programme Update [SA(ONS)(13)27] 6.1 Mr Everett introduced a paper which provided an update on the Measuring National Wellbeing Programme. The programme delivery status was ’green’. This status had been revised from ‘amber/green’ following recent work to refresh the benefits map and identify the main milestones which will deliver benefits.
6.2 The meeting considered the November 2012 Measuring National Wellbeing release when a package of outputs had been published including;
i. the first annual Wellbeing report – ‘Life in the UK’; ii. an updated list of Wellbeing domains and measures; iii. the National Wellbeing wheel; and iv. interactive maps and stacked bar charts highlighting regional and sub-regional estimates.
6.3 The Board heard that particular emphasis had been put on ensuring that the programme was perceived as non party political and that wellbeing measures were reported in the media in more sophisticated ways than simply as a ‘happiness index’. Good progress had been made in both respects and these areas would continue to remain priorities.
6.4 Possibilities for partnership working with academic bodies including the Economic and Social Research Council and the London School of Economic were being actively considered.
7. Pay and Reward [SA(ONS)(13)28] 7.1 Ms Evans and Dr Wooding presented a paper on arrangements for the August 2013 pay settlement. The present two year pay freeze was due to end on 31 July. A business case for a new pay settlement was to be presented to the Cabinet Office by the end of May. The Chancellor’s autumn statement had included an announcement that public sector pay awards will average one per cent for each year of the two years following the end of the pay freeze. This was the framework within which each department was expected to deliver their 2013/14 settlement.
7.2 The Board agreed that this framework must be adhered too and recognised that in practice this left very little room for manoeuvre. One approach could be to aim to deliver a 1 per cent uplift in all salaries as equally as possible but there were possible variants to this model including protecting minimum absolute increases at the bottom of the pay structure.
7.3 Issues to be addressed included further consideration of the issue of spine point progression. Further discussion with the Trades Unions would be held. The Board also noted that maintaining staff morale was critical and that this presented a real challenge in the present environment. Longer term pay policy ambitions included reducing the length of the pay scales but this was not possible to address within the present framework.
7.3 The Board agreed that further consideration of the issue be delegated to the ONS Executive Leadership Team (ELT) with full regard paid to the possibility of legal challenge and to staff morale.
Action: Resolution of 2013 pay settlement delegated to ELT with a report to be provided to ONS Board in due course.
8. Any Other Business 8.1 The meeting concluded at 13:00. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Titchfield on Tuesday 21 May
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 21 May 2013 Titchfield
Present
UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Dame Moira Gibb Mr Guy Goodwin Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson
Secretariat Ms Sarah Green Mr Mervyn Stevens
Other Attendees Dr Neil Wooding (for item 6) Ms Nicky Bloomer (for item 7)
Apologies Mr Robert Bumpstead
Declarations of interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 55th meeting of the ONS Board was held in Titchfield on Tuesday, 21 May 2013. Apologies were received from Mr Bumpstead. The minutes of the previous meeting on 23 April 2013 were agreed as a correct record subject to the following amendment:
‘2.5 Revisions in the UK from month 1 to month 3 were up to a range of +/- 0.3 per cent but often smaller. Revisions which were made one or two years after the first release could be larger.’
1.2 Progress with actions was reviewed. Actions were in hand or complete. The Board further agreed that:
Action: ONS would include a chart showing monthly website visitors by years in the management information for future meetings.
Action: ONS would send the next publication regarding Gross Domestic Product (GDP) revisions to the Non-Executives when published in June.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)29a] and [SA(ONS)(13)29a] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key events and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board. The Board heard that:
i. Eurostat had withdrawn the pre-infraction notice in respect of providing consolidated National Accounts data; ii. the open geography portal, a new service allowing customers and systems to digitally access ONS geographic data, had gone live on 20 May; and iii. four follow-up reviews completed by Internal Audit since the last meeting had received favourable audit opinions.
2.2 The Government’s response to the report of the Administrative Data Task Force was still awaited. Discussions between ONS and the Economic and Social Research Centre (ESRC) on possible collaboration on an Administrative Data Centre were continuing.
2.3 A case had been submitted to the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG) to extend the contract . This had not received a favourable response, and discussions were continuing with the Cabinet Office’s Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Kelly. Negotiations with had already delivered The meeting agreed that ONS should brief the Authority Chair of the emerging risk.
Action: ONS to brief the Authority Chair about the issue with the contract.
2.4 Mr Watson also highlighted the following from his report.
i. Mrs Walker was developing a five year National Accounts workplan. This initiative had been welcomed by the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). A public consultation would commence on 24 May. ii. There was international interest in the Measuring National Wellbeing programme. iii. Mr Watson and the ONS Chief Economic Adviser, Joe Grice had met with Robert Chote, Chair of the OBR to discuss OBR concerns raised in the key accounts feedback. Mr Chote was satisfied with the ONS response so far to the issues raised.
2.5 The meeting noted that Mr Goodwin and Mr Ben Humberstone had given evidence to an oral evidence session of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) on migration statistics on 24 April. The meeting noted the inability of the Internal Passenger Survey to provide small area data on immigration and the delays to Home Office e-Borders programme. It was agreed that a workshop on migration statistics should be included for the meeting of the ONS Board in September in order that it might advise the Authority Board on a way forward. It was suggested that, as the Home Office was the policy-owning department for migration matters, that the Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Bernard Silverman should be invited to join that workshop.
Action: Secretariat to note for the forward agenda for September and to invite Professor Silverman to attend.
2.6 Mr Watson introduced the monthly key issues report. Mr Watson and Mr Goodwin had received assurance from ONS methodologists that falling response rates were not leading to a significant bias in the Labour Force Survey statistics. It was agreed that recent ONS Board papers regarding survey response rates should be recirculated to the Non- Executive members of the ONS Board
Action: Secretariat to circulate papers on response rates to Non-Executives.
2.7 There were problems in obtaining data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in respect of the pilot areas for Universal Credit claimants for inclusion in the ONS unemployment figures. This would cause increasing problems as the full roll-out of Universal Credit in October approached. ONS would keep the Board informed of developments.
Action: ONS to keep ONS Board members informed of developments.
2.8 An internal ONS review of the National Accounts Classifications process was being finalised with emerging recommendations regarding improved governance and greater transparency. It was agreed that the recommendations would be provided to the next meeting of the Board.
Action: ONS to provide the findings and recommendations of the review for the next meeting. Secretariat to note for the agenda of the next meeting.
2.9 There were potentially onerous quality assurance requirements emerging from Eurostat in respect of the new EU Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIB) indicators, which could be implemented as early as 2014. The Board noted that a paper provided for the meeting of the Committee for Official Statistics on 16 May on compliance with EU regulations would be provided to a future meeting of the Authority Board for consideration. A half-day training course delivered by the International branch of the National Statistician’s Office was available for Non-Executive’s to attend. It was agreed that the Director General should brief HM Treasury about the developments with Eurostat and of the potential resource implications.
Action: Mr Watson to brief the Treasury on these developments.
2.10 A new issue which had arisen since the last meeting was the publication on Friday 24 May by the Major Projects Authority (MPA) of the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP). As at quarter two of 2012, of the 168 projects in the GMPP there were eight with a RAG status of ‘red’ and two of these belonged to ONS: European System of Accounts (ESA) 10 and Web Data Access(WDA). There was concern that this might result in criticism of ONS. ONS would publish the current status and narrative summary of its five major projects in the GMPP on its website at midday on 24 May.
2.11 It was noted that the next Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney had spoken about the merits of targeting nominal GDP instead of inflation as the basis for monetary policy. Ms Matheson would be writing to Mr Carney when he takes up post and would be seeking a meeting with him at the earliest opportunity. It was agreed that a short tutorial briefing on the issues should be provided for the next meeting and that Ms Matheson would brief the Board on discussions with Mr Carney.
Action: ONS to provide a tutorial paper for the next meeting. Action: Ms Matheson to brief the Board in due course on discussions with Mr Carney.
2.12 In relation to the Scottish referendum, the meeting noted that ONS was only able to allocate minimal resources to take forward the production of a compendium of statistics to be published towards the end of 2013.
2.13 It was agreed that for future meetings the key issues report should highlight more clearly where there had been changes since the last meeting.
Action: ONS to highlight changes during the month in the key issues report.
3. Asset Purchase Facility Review 3.1 The report of the UK Statistics Authority on its review of the ONS treatment in the Public Sector Finances statistics of the Bank of England Asset Purchase Facility had yet to be published. ONS had made its response to the draft report. Mrs Walker reported that ONS were considering how to respond to the report and proposals were in draft for improved governance, transparency and communication. Discussions had also been held with the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
3.2 In noting that the Authority intended to publish its report before the next meeting of the ONS Board and that the next release of these statistics would be on 22 May, it was agreed that the draft ONS response would be circulated by email to the Non-Executives and Professor Smith could approve its publication.
Action: Mrs Walker to provide the draft response to Professor Smith and the Non- Executives for approval.
4. Financial Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(13)30] 4.1 Mr Layland reported the external auditors had commenced their four week audit on 13 May. An oral report on progress would be provided to the Audit Committee on 30 May. The draft accounts reflected £1.5 million underspends on both resource and capital budgets for 2012/13.
4.2 £150,000 of Eurostat grant funding had already been written off, with the possibility that this could rise to £1.2 million for the year ended 31 March 2013. The National Audit Office (NAO) had been informed of this write-off and their opinion regarding regularity had been sought. While the loss of £1.2 million would not result in a breach of the control total for 2012/13, the risk remained that the Comptroller and Auditor General would qualify his audit opinion on the Authority’s 2012/13 accounts because of the irregularity of the write- off. Nine Eurostat claims had been resolved but Eurostat could reopen claims going back seven years, with the potential loss of up to £5 million.
4.3 Discussions with HM Treasury regarding the Authority’s budget for the years to 2015/16 were on-going but it was anticipated that these would be resolved before the next meeting of the Board. It was agreed that, on the basis of the outcome, there should be a discussion regarding budgets at the next meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: ONS to provide a paper on the financial position for future years to the next meeting. Secretariat to note for the agenda for the next meeting.
5. Strategy Framework and Strategic Roadmap [SA(ONS)(13)31] 5.1 Mr Watson introduced a paper which outlined the framework which supported the ten-year ONS Strategy. The Strategy had been communicated to staff through the intranet and in a pamphlet. Six sub-strategies supported the overall strategy and a roadmap for the implementation of the strategy was being developed. It was agreed that the ONS Board would consider the roadmap at the July meeting.
Action: Secretariat to note for the forward agenda.
6. Strategic Risks [SA(ONS)(13)32] 6.1 Dr Wooding presented draft strategic risks identified by ONS in relation to its current and future work programme. Nine risks had been identified under four main headings of delivery, reputation, people and security. In welcoming the development of these high- level risks, the Board agreed that a further draft should be provided for the next meeting which included a RAG status and mitigation.
Action: Dr Wooding to provide a further draft for the next meeting. Secretariat to note for the agenda for the next meeting.
7. Portfolio Delivery Status Report [SA(ONS)(13)33] 7.1 Ms Bloomer presented an overview of the ONS portfolio status, including the five projects which were reported to the MPA. Recommendations from Gateway reviews of specific projects and programmes were being shared across the portfolio. A programme of training on project portfolio management had been introduced, with a view to up-skilling managers and making project management a recognised professional discipline in ONS.
7.2 The meeting was concerned to note the number of projects which were reporting an amber or red position. It was agreed that for future meeting this portfolio report should:
i. make the reasons for ‘red’ status clearer, with bullet points highlighting what is going wrong; ii. have less detail (omitting the last seven or eight pages) and instead include an executive summary of the overall portfolio position; iii. include some context on the RAG status of projects across government departments; and iv. include more information on mitigation and remedial action where an adverse RAG status is reported.
8. National Accounts Projects Update [SA(ONS)(13)34] 8.1 Mrs Walker reported on progress with the Blue Book 2013, Blue Book 2014 and the European System of Accounts 2010 / Balance of Payments Manual 6 (ESA10/BPM6) projects. While the balancing exercise was a week behind schedule the project was on course to publish the Blue Book 2013 in June. There was overlap between the Blue Books 2013 and 2014 projects, with the Blue Book 2014 falling behind and reporting a ‘red’ status.
8.2 The ESA programme was currently at ‘amber/red’ status because of concerns over resources. While additional resources were being allocated to the ESA programme this was proving to be slower than was desirable, and this would be considered again at the next meeting of the ONS Executive Leadership Team.
8.3 The Board were concerned to note the current position regarding the status of this programme and the slow progress in obtaining the necessary staff. Mrs Walker confirmed that it was the ambition that both the Blue Book 2014 project and the ESA programme would be reporting as ‘amber’ by October.
9. Value Engineering [SA(ONS)(13)35] 9.1 Mrs Walker provided an update on the value engineering analysis which had been carried out at the end of 2012 on the risks associated with all of the ONS statistical outputs. The value engineering approach had enabled ONS to attach a risk score to each output and then to drill down to identify which factors had resulted in high risk scores. Action plans and follow-up reviews had been put in place for the top scoring 17 outputs. The meeting endorsed the continuation of this approach to identifying risks areas.
10. Any other business 10.1 The meeting approved proposals introduced by Mr Watson for the rotation of executive members of the ONS Board. It was noted that this was Mr Goodwin’s last meeting as his period of appointment to the ONS Board ended on 31 May. Dr Wooding would be appointed to the ONS Board for one year from 1 June. Mr Grice would replace Mrs Walker in November.
10.2 The Chair thanked Mr Goodwin for his contribution towards the work of the ONS Board over the last two years.
10.3 There was no other business and the meeting concluded at 13:00. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be on Tuesday 18 June in Drummond Gate.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Minutes
Tuesday, 18 June 2013 London
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Dame Moira Gibb Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson Dr Neil Wooding
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green
Apologies None
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 56th meeting of the ONS Board was held in London on Tuesday 18 June 2013. There were no apologies. The minutes of the previous meeting on 21 May 2013 were agreed as a correct record subject to agreed amendment.
1.2 Progress with actions was reviewed. All actions were in hand or complete.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)36a] and Key Issues [SA(ONS)(13)36b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key events and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 The Board heard that, subsequent to earlier discussions about a lack of staff resource in the economic statistics business area, good progress had been made in filling key roles in the short term.
2.3 It was agreed that a paper on workforce planning would be considered by the ONS Board at its September meeting. This would include information on the current workforce and skills and a plan and roadmap showing how short, medium and long term goals would be achieved.
Action: Paper on workforce planning, including skills, roadmap and short and long term goals to be provided to the September meeting of the ONS Board.
2.4 ONS would proceed with a public consultation on a relatively small number of output cuts. The meeting agreed that it was important that the consultation represented a genuine engagement with users.
2.5 The successful introduction of Theme Pages on the ONS website was discussed and it was agreed that the ONS Board would provide positive feedback to the staff responsible. Now that the website has undergone significant improvements the Board were concerned that these improvements were effectively marketed so that stakeholders were aware and did not repeat criticisms which were now out of date. Thought could also be usefully be given to developing a new basket of web metrics to measure the impact of the improvements.
Action: ONS to further consider plans to market the improved website and produce measures to monitor the impact of the improvements.
Action: Secretariat to draft positive feedback from the ONS Board about theme pages.
2.6 ONS staff members Alan Smith and Jamie Jenkins had recently won international awards for their work in communicating statistics and it was agreed that the Chair would write to congratulate them.
Action: Secretariat to draft letter of congratulation from the Chair to recipients of communication awards.
2.7 It was understood that five universities were preparing proposals for partnership working with ONS in respect of the Administrative Data Centre initiative. The Economic and Social Research Council hoped to have established the project by 1 October. [Subsequent to the meeting it was agreed to consider papers about the potential and ONS and Authority roles in this initiative at the July meetings of the ONS and Authority Boards, respectively.]
2.8 The Board also heard about a planned ‘Field Review’ of remote interviewing and data collection operations. The objective of the work was to review current arrangements for face to face data collection and on-site retail price collection, and to determine the best business model for the future.
2.9 Among the monthly key issues discussed were: progress with publishing the annual Blue Book; difficulty in obtaining statistics about the unemployed from DWP in relation to claimants in areas piloting the introduction of universal credit; and the challenges associated with coverage of small businesses and e-commerce in the National Accounts, about which the Board requested further information.
Action: Mrs Walker to provide a forthcoming article on e-commerce and its effect on trade and GDP statistics to ONS Board non-executives, and in light of comments about that, to provide a tutorial paper on the subject too.
3. Financial Reporting Update and Budgets for Future Years [SA(ONS)(13)37] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided an update on the indicative budget for 2013/14 following further negotiations with Treasury. Total operating costs for 2013/14 were £185.2 million compared with £185.9 million for 2012/13.
3.2 The Board welcomed the information provided and agreed to receive a confirmed budget at the next meeting. That paper should address the following points; i. include an explanation in the commentary of the variance in spend on operational fees and payments in 2013/14 compared with the previous year (annex A); ii. the operational fees and payments category to be further broken down to demonstrate the element of 'write-off' that occurred in 2012/13 total (annex A); iii. in general, where large variances occurred in spend between years to include an explanation of the reason for this in the commentary; iv. include comparative figures for 2012/13 in tables showing the Investment Portfolio (annex D) and breakdown of income (annex E); v. include commentary about the potential risks to ONS income from other Government Departments in this and future years, and; vi. reallocate about half the £9 million currently attributed to 'contingency' (annexes A and C), and once completed, use these figures as the definitive budget to refer back to throughout the year.
Action: Budget for 2013/14 to be presented to the next meeting of the ONS Board in light of discussion, and following the conclusion of negotiations with Treasury.
4. ONS Response to Asset Purchase Facility Review and National Accounts Classification Review [SA(ONS)(13)38] 4.1 Mrs Walker introduced a paper which set out the conclusions from the ONS review of classifications processes and procedures, which covered the consideration of classification decisions in both National Accounts and Public Sector Finances (PSF).
4.2 The meeting noted that the Authority’s report had received limited media coverage. ONS were now conducting a review led by Mrs Walker of the PSF statistics in light of the Authority report. Possible completion dates for this work were considered. It was agreed that while the work should be timely it should not be rushed. The Board agreed to receive a progress report at the next meeting. Mr Watson suggested that the Authority may itself wish to consider a ‘pause and review’ of the APF incident. The Board also considered how, when such issues emerged in future, they would be bought to its attention. It was agreed that this could be a topic which the ONS PFS review could usefully address and also a subject for consideration at next month’s review of the Board’s effectiveness.
4.3 The meeting went on to consider the proposals in the paper in respect of reforming the Public Finance Statistics Technical Advisory Group (PFSTAG), also in light of the Authority’s report. One question for further consideration was the extent to which external organisations, for example the NAO, might be included on the group.
Action: ONS Board to receive update on the ONS PFS review at the next meeting.
5. Governance of ONS [SA(ONS)(13)39] 5.1 Mr Watson introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with the current corporate governance framework and the plans to review this over the summer as had been discussed by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) meeting in May.
5.2 The ONS 2012 programme had concluded that the number of top-level committees in ONS should be reduced. The review would consider whether the abolition of these committees had disenfranchised the Senior Civil Service at ONS, and also what action was needed to realise the recommendation in ONS 2012 to push decision-making down to the lowest level appropriate in ONS.
5.3 It was agreed that the section of the draft Governance Framework about the ONS Board should be reviewed to confirm that it aligned with the ONS Board Terms of Reference and should include the voting arrangements of the ONS Board.
5.4 The Board went on to consider the frequency with which the ELT business and ELT strategy committees met (currently both monthly), the ONS Board meeting schedule (currently ten meetings a year) and the information provided to the ONS Board. In particular the meeting discussed the quality of management information and how the creation of a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) linked to strategic objectives could improve that information. For example, strategy relevant KPIs might include release times, GDP or other statistical revisions, media coverage and programme management success.
5.5 It was agreed that these topics could be considered further at the Board’s effectiveness review at the next meeting. Draft arrangements for the review would be circulated for comment.
Action: Secretariat to circulate proposals for Board effectiveness session, ONS to include issue of KPIs and management information within their own review, and draft ONS governance framework to be amended in light of discussion.
6. Flex and Fujitsu [SA(ONS)(13)40] 6.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with four options for the replacement of the Fujitsu information technology service contract which was due to expire in March 2015.
6.2 The Board considered the paper and agreed that it required further information before an informed judgement could be made. Given that the issue had been in the pipeline for many months the Board reflected that it would have been useful to have had earlier sight of the issue and that any consideration needed to be adequately informed by basic information about cost, value for money and capability.
6.3 It was agreed that a revised paper would be considered at the next meeting of the ONS Board and should include:
7. Update on Electronic Data Collection (EDC) [SA(ONS)(13)41] 7.1 The meeting agreed to accept the paper providing an update on the EDC programme without discussion. Any comments from Board members could be supplied to the secretariat via correspondence.
Action: Secretariat to collate any comments on the EDC paper and provide to the paper's author.
8. Any Other Business 8.1 It was agreed that the secretariat would arrange for provision of teleconference facilities in the London Boardroom to enable authors to present papers remotely.
8.2 The meeting concluded at 13:00. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Newport on Tuesday 23 July 2013.
Action: Secretariat to arrange provision of teleconference facilities in the London Boardroom. UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 23 July 2013 Boardroom, Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Dame Moira Gibb Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson Dr Neil Wooding
Other Attendees Mr Richard Laux (for item 6) Mr Guy Goodwin (for items 6 and 7) Ms Laura Dewis (for item 7)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green
Apologies Ms Carolyn Fairbairn (for items 1 to 9, joining for item 10)
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 57th meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday 23 July 2013. The minutes of the previous meeting on 18 June 2013 were agreed as a correct record. Progress with actions was reviewed.
1.2 Progress with actions was reviewed. The development of new metrics for web performance was progressing well under the Improving Dissemination Programme (IDP – see item 7 below). Action to market recent improvements to the website was also being taken and included meetings with key stakeholders, publication of a new blog about ongoing web improvements and forthcoming publication of a timetable and plan for future improvements.
1.3 Other ongoing actions included publication of an article about e-commerce and its measurement by ONS at the end of the month, and, installation of video conference facilities in the London boardroom.
1.4 An advisory group to the ONS review of public sector finance statistics had met for the first time and agreed terms of reference. Members included representatives from the Bank of England, OBR, National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR), Treasury and Scotia Bank. The initial steer from the group was that production of the ‘ex measures’ should continue but these need not attempt to measure ‘underlying’ borrowing. The group would meet again in September. Proposals would be subject to focus group testing and then a public consultation in the autumn.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)42a] and [SA(ONS)(13)42b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on developments since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 It was agreed that winners of the recent ONS excellence awards would be invited to meet non executive Board members, on the date of a future meeting of the ONS Board.
2.3 ONS would begin a public consultation on reductions to outputs in August. It was agreed that the draft consultation document would be circulated to members of the ONS Board, following approval by the ONS Executive Leadership Team on 31 July, and that one week would be allowed for comments.
Action: Excellence award winners to meet the ONS Board.
Action: Circulate draft consultation document on output cuts for comment at the beginning of August.
2.4 The Board heard that an error had been discovered in business investment data, published as part of the June GDP release. The Bank and the MPC had raised concerns about the plausibility of the data. The resulting investigations were continuing but it had been established that non-seasonally adjusted data had been used, when seasonally adjusted data should have been used instead. The error would not affect overall GDP but would affect some of its components.
2.5 The meeting discussed the possible causes of the error. A review would be held to establish these. Possible factors which had already been identified included poor systems performance resulting in reduced quality assurance time, and effectiveness of the quality assurance process. Handling was also considered. Users would be notified of the error as soon as possible.
2.6 The Board considered recent comment on ONS statistics by Migration Watch in relation to Long Term International Migration Statistics and by the NIESR in relation to the size of the digital economy. The ONS response to both of these issues had been robust but could also be characterised as defensive. It was agreed that it would be helpful if in future responses left more room for manoeuvre. In respect of migration statistics it was noted that Sir Andrew Green had first written to the Chair of the Authority. It was recognised that ONS could improve its explanation about the differences between different migration statistics, and it would be looking to do so in future.
2.7 There were on-going problems in obtaining information from DWP about job seekers who were participants in universal credit pilot areas. This problem would increasingly affect labour market estimates until resolved. September was the earliest time by which DWP had indicated this data might be available.
2.8 The Board noted the excellent coverage around the recent quarterly ONS crime statistics publication and that a step change in the public acceptability of these figures had occurred compared with a few years ago.
2.9 The Board was informed of National Accounts classification cases. Current cases concerned Network Rail, Royal Mail pensions and Royal Mail privatisation. It was agreed that the ONS Board would be kept well sighted on progress with these issues. An account of these cases should be included and updated in each monthly issues log and referred to as appropriate in the Director General’s report.
Action: ONS Board to be kept well sighted on progress with National Accounts classification cases.
3. ONS Business Plan 2013/14 [SA(ONS)(13)43] 3.1 Mr Watson and Dr Wooding introduced a draft of the ONS business plan for 2013/14. In discussion the following points were made.
i. The development of key performance indicators (KPIs) was the right approach but these need further consideration and to be made more meaningful.
ii. The language and terms used need to be made clearer for a wider audience, for example: • an explanation could usefully be provided on what the terms ‘customers’, ‘key customers’ and ‘stakeholders’ mean, and how they differ; and • terms such as ‘annual value engineering process’, ‘composite assessment score’ and ‘Lean Six Sigma white belt’ need to be more intelligible.
iii. There needs to be greater connectivity to the Authority’s strategy, including a narrative additional section towards the start of the ONS business plan describing how the plan maps to the Authority’s strategy.
iv. There could usefully be more emphasis on workforce planning and capability. There should be an additional section, perhaps as an annex, about ‘people’ which sets out existing human resources.
v. The next draft should also reflect further specific comments including that: • the Improving Dissemination Programme is in the process of developing metrics which might better measure dissemination outcomes; • the target for the staff engagement score could be recast in terms of relative performance (i.e. ONS to have an above average score compared with other government departments); and • the concept of trustworthiness needs further development and prominence in the plan.
3.2 It was agreed that the draft would be submitted to the Authority Board for further comment, with a note reflecting the comments of the ONS Board. Work will continue over the summer on development of the plan in light of discussions. A further draft will be submitted to the meeting of the ONS Board on 17 September for approval. That meeting will also include a focussed discussion on the KPIs.
Action: Submit draft business plan and note of comments made to the July meeting of the Authority Board.
Action: Submit a revised business plan to the September meeting of the ONS board and schedule a focussed discussion of KPIs at that meeting too.
4. Financial Reporting Update, Budget for 2013/14 and Indicative Budgets for 2014/16 [SA(ONS)(13)44] 4.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided the budget for 2013/14 and forecast budgets for 2014/15 and 2015/16.
4.2 Since the last meeting a settlement letter had been received from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. This confirmed that an additional £15 million of funding would be provided over the next two years. The funding was subject to several conditions including quality improvements to be agreed with Treasury by the end of July, and improvements to long term financial management would be subject to external review before the end of the current financial year.
4.3 The ONS budget for 2013/14 was approved. The overall Authority budget would be submitted to the Authority Board for approval. The ONS Board also agreed to receive the ONS efficiency plan at a future meeting.
Action: ONS Board to be sighted on the efficiency plan.
5. ONS IT Disaggregation Project [SA(ONS)(13)45] 5.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which detailed information on the cost benefit and net present value of disaggregating Information Technology (IT) services within ONS, as required by the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG). It had been prepared in response to a request for additional information made by ONS Board Members at the previous meeting.
5.2 The Chair thanked the paper authors for the additional work undertaken. The paper recommended proposals for pursuing IT disaggregation and noted assurances that had been received from ERG. The Board approved the proposals.
6. ONS Engagement with Administrative Data Taskforce proposals [SA(ONS)(13)46] 6.1 Mr Goodwin and Mr Laux introduced a paper which provided the Board with an update about progress with engagement with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) about plans for an Administrative Data Research Network for the UK.
6.2 Although there was a degree of uncertainty at this stage in the ESRC’s plans the meeting agreed that there were clear potential benefits to ONS which merited continued engagement in the project. Under current thinking ONS would become one of the four UK Administrative Data Centres. Main responsibilities would include linking data securely and disseminating linked data in secure formats. This would give ONS greater access to data, a central position in setting standards, and was a good fit with broader aims. It was noted that the prospect of ONS becoming a data centre was not yet included in the budget, but that all work as a centre would charged at full economic cost to ESRC.
6.3 The meeting approved the proposals and briefly considered the Authority’s potential role as the governing body of the Network, noting this would be considered at the next meeting of the Authority Board.
7. Improving Dissemination Programme [SA(ONS)(13)47] 7.1 Ms Dewis provided an update on progress with the Improving Dissemination Programme (IDP) since the ONS Board last considered the programme in May. Improvements discussed included those to search functionality, search optimisation, user testing of a more accessible taxonomy, a three month user consultation on better navigation, and guidelines and staff training about the production of infographics.
7.2 In response to user criticisms about the lack of time-series data a prototype landing page had been built that would provide links to all key economic time series. Context had been added to each link and internal testing with business areas was due to begin shortly.
7.3 Under the Web Data Access project the planned launch of the Data Explorer function was set for 17 August. This initial release would give users the ability to view datasets on-line and download them. A subsequent release with enhanced functionality was planned for October.
7.5 A draft outline business case for the IDP was being prepared for notification to the ERG in August.
7.6 Staff training in the use of web analytics was underway and a new service was being procured. The intention was to produce improved metrics within three months.
7.7 The Board welcomed these developments and agreed good progress was being made.
8. Identifying and Managing the Talent of our Senior Civil Service [SA(ONS)(13)48] 8.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which provided the Board with a profile of the Senior Civil Service in relation to their performance and potential. This demonstrated how the assessment was reached using a nine box grid model, and provided an overview of the ONS approach to managing talent and succession planning. The paper also provided an initial draft of a proposed new performance and potential map.
8.2 The Board welcomed the proposals in the paper and looked forward to a broader discussion of workforce planning in September.
9. Any Other Business 9.1 The Chair reported that he had been notified of two Assessment Reports of ONS statistics where implementation of requirements was found to be overdue by the Assessment Committee. It was agreed that ONS would investigate and provide a report to the ONS Board chair.
Action: ONS to provide a report back to the ONS Board Chair on implementation of requirements in respect of two assessment reports.
9.2 The meeting concluded at 12:35. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Newport on Tuesday 17 September 2013
10. ONS Board Annual Review [SA(ONS)(13)49] 10.1 The ONS Board held its annual self review of its effectiveness. The meeting considered business over the past year, the forward agenda for the coming year and ways of working that would enhance its effectiveness.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 17 September 2013 Boardroom, Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Mr Carolyn Fairbairn Dame Moira Gibb Mr Guy Goodwin Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson Dr Neil Wooding (for items 6 and 7)
Other Attendees Ms Jan Jones (for item 5) Ms Helen Patterson (for item 9)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green
Apologies None
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 58th meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday 17 September 2013. There were no apologies or declarations of interest.
1.2 The minutes of the previous meeting on 23 July 2013 were agreed as a correct record.
1.3 Progress with actions was reviewed. It was confirmed that a workshop session would be held at the November meeting of the ONS Board to consider a Target Operating Model. Workforce planning would be considered at a further session in January.
1.4 Further to the ONS Board’s review of self-effectiveness in July, the number of meetings would be reduced. It was likely that the meetings scheduled for December 2013 and April 2014 would be cancelled.
Action: Secretariat to arrange workshop style sessions on a Target Operating Model and on workforce planning, and to confirm any changes to the meeting schedule as agreed.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)51a] and [SA(ONS)(13)51b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key events and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 The Board agreed that Martin Brand would present the report of his review into recent errors in GDP to the November meeting of the ONS Board. It was also agreed that an update on progress would be provided to the next ONS Board meeting in October.
2.3 Negotiations between the Cabinet Office and ONS about contractual progression payments continued. All Cabinet Office departments were required to withdraw the contractual pay progression element, prior to pay remits being agreed. ONS and Cabinet Office were discussing affordable ways in which this could be achieved. A substantive update on this subject would be provided to the ONS Board once further progress had been made. It was agreed that this update should include an account of any discussions with the Trades Unions.
Action: Brand review to be considered at the November meeting of the ONS Board, with an update to be provided in October.
Action: Substantive update on pay progression to be provided to a future meeting of the ONS Board.
2.4 The meeting considered recent progress with drafting of a consultation document on the Census and the future provision of population statistics. It was agreed that there were lessons to be learnt both from the quality of the initial draft which had been circulated for comment to Authority Board members, and also about the media reporting of the future of the Census and how this had arisen.
2.5 The Board noted that a more recent draft was substantially improved. The launch of the consultation would take place on 23 September as planned.
Action: Plans for launch of the Beyond 2011 consultation, including lines to take and questions and answers, to be circulated to Authority Board members in advance of the publication of the consultation document on Monday 23 September.
2.6 The Board considered the monthly report of key issues. DWP had still been unable to provide ONS with information about claimants participating in universal credit pathfinder schemes. As a result it was estimated that 3,000 people were excluded from the claimant count. While DWP hoped that the information would be available in October, the quality of the claimant count statistics would continue to be affected until the issue was resolved.
2.7 The meeting considered contingencies were the data to continue to be unavailable in future. It was agreed that escalation to PASC should be considered, together with escalation to the Head of Assessment to see whether the statistics were still eligible for National Statistics status.
2.8 The Board further considered: classification of network rail and other high-profile classification decisions; the procurement of disaggregated IT services which was expected to begin in January 2014; and proposals to centralise the provision of Human Resource services under the Cabinet Office.
Action: Keep the ONS Board updated on progress with the Network Rail classification decision.
Action: Keep the ONS Board updated on progress with the IT dissagregation project and include a substantive update about this at the November meeting of the ONS Board
3. Financial Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(13)52] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided assurance to the ONS Board that the financial position of the Authority is being managed with sound controls in place, and provided narrative around the key financial risks.
3.2 The latest forecast underspend was around £500,000 at the end of August. There was a shortfall in anticipated efficiency savings of around £3 million. The Board heard that Work was in hand to address these. It was agreed that the next meeting of the ONS Board would review an indicative budget for 2015/16.
3.3 The Board heard that a Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) review of financial maturity was being conducted and that non-executives may be invited to participate
Action: Provide an indicative budget for 2015/16 to the October meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: Provide a note about the CIPFA review of financial maturity to non-executives who may be invited participate.
4. ONS Business Plan and Key Performance Indicators [SA(ONS)(13)53] 4.1 Mr Watson introduced a note which covered the ONS Business Plan for 2013/14. The plan had been substantively revised in light of discussion at the July meetings of the ONS and Authority Boards. The Board approved the plan for publication, subject to addressing the following drafting points:
i. provide a fuller explanation of 'customers' in an expanded section 7.2; ii. provide a description of 'lean six sigma' and also of the financial annex at section 10; iii. consider including contextual information about targets which currently did not have this information (i.e. how the target to answer 92 per cent of calls within 30 seconds relates to current performance); iv. consider rewording key performance indicator 5, so as not to suggest that a proportion of ‘major statistical errors’ might be acceptable; v. include Census datasets in the target for the number of datasets to be made available to users; and vi. Chief Finance Officer and the Head of Secretariat to further consider the reference to the Authority and ONS in key performance indicator 7 about budget control totals.
Action: Revise the Business Plan in light of discussion and publish. Provide reports on progress every three months to the ONS Board, beginning in November
5. Strategic Road Map [SA(ONS)(13)54] 5.1 Ms Jones gave a presentation of the Strategic Road Map. The Board welcomed early sight of the document and agreed in discussion that it might be further developed by aligning it with the business plan and the forthcoming Target Operating Model. It was also suggested that some of the longer term aims, for example that ONS should have an engaged enthusiastic and modern workforce by 2022/23, might be reworded to avoid misunderstanding.
Action: Revisit the Road Map following the November workshop on the Target Operating Model.
6. ONS Strategic Risks [SA(ONS)(13)55] 6.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with a further update to the strategic risks, as requested at the ONS Board meeting in May. The Board welcomed the new presentation. In discussion the meeting agreed that the risks might be further considered so as to:
• focus on those risks arising from the external environment, rather than describing risks as being the inverse of strategic objectives; and • emphasise that one of the biggest risks ONS faces is in not keeping up with developments in the outside world, and how it responds effectively to these external challenges.
6.2 It was also suggested that the Secretariat could consider organising a workshop style session to discuss risks arising from disruptive technologies and other external stimuli, and identify external participants who could be invited to this.
Action: Further consider the risk register in light of discussion.
7. Workforce Planning [SA(ONS)(13)56] 7.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which provided members of the ONS Board with an initial outline workforce profile based on current staffing figures and initial future workforce projections.
7.2 The paper was principally for information. A ‘deeper dive’ of the issue would take place at a January workshop style session. The Board agreed that for that session it would be useful to also consider comparative information about the market, for example competitor’s wages. More information about skills, in addition to grade, would also be helpful. 8. Delivering the Authority Strategy: ONS Board [SA(ONS)(13)58] 8.1 Mr Bumpstead introduced a paper which provided a summary of the strategic work that the ONS Board has been allocated oversight of, to enable consideration of how the ONS Board should exercise this function. The Board noted that similar papers were being presented this month to the Audit Committee, the Committee for Official Statistics and the Assessment Committee in respect of the work that those committees have been allocated oversight of.
8.2 The meeting considered the purpose of the strategy document and how it aligned with other elements including the ONS business plan. Three particular work packages were identified for further consideration.
• Electronic Data Collection (EDC) which was currently rated ‘red/amber’. It was agreed that a comprehensive update on the EDC project would to be provided for the next meeting of the ONS Board. • ‘ONS is exemplar of good practice in communicating and explaining statistics’. It was noted that the Authority Board would be considering a strategic overview of the plan for improving the presentation and communication of ONS statistics in the autumn. • ‘Build capability at ONS and demonstrate that this had led to successful outcomes’ in respect of three specific areas: EDC, communication and administrative data. These issues could be considered further at the workforce planning workshop.
Action: A comprehensive update on the EDC project would to be provided for the next meeting of the ONS Board
9. Monitoring Review: Issuing Market Sensitive Releases at 09:30 [SA(ONS)(13)57] 9.1 Ms Patterson and Mr Watson introduced a paper which summarised how ONS is planning to respond to the Authority's Monitoring Review ‘Issuing ONS Market Sensitive Statistics at 09:30’ and the actions being taken to ensure equal access to all of its publications. The Review was welcome and its recommendations had been accepted.
9.2 It was agreed that the Management Response should further include a timetable for the work proposed. Pending inclusion of this it should be sent on to the Head of Assessment.
10. Any Other Business 10.1 The meeting concluded at 13:00. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in London on Tuesday 22 October 2013.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 22 October 2013 Boardroom, London
Present
UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Mr Carolyn Fairbairn Dame Moira Gibb Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Mr Glen Watson
Other Attendees Ms Nicky Bloomer (for items 4 and 5) Mr David Harris (for item 5) Ms Tricia Dodd, Mr Martin Ralphs and Ms Susan Williams (for item 6) Mr Ian Cope, Mr Chris Kershaw, Professor Bernard Silverman and Mr Jon Simmons (for item 8)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green
Apologies Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Dr Neil Wooding
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 59th meeting of the ONS Board was held in London on Tuesday 22 October 2013. Apologies were received from Ms Matheson, Mrs Walker and Dr Wooding.
1.2 The minutes of the previous meeting on 17 September 2013 were agreed as a correct record.
1.3 Progress with actions was reviewed. The following further actions were agreed:
Action: ONS to submit an indicative budget for 2015/16 to the November meeting of the ONS Board. (Action carried over from previous meeting).
Action: Proceed with plans for the November workshop on Target Operating Model to incorporate brainstorm sessions on disruptive influences and new modes of dissemination. Consider scheduling a subsequent workshop in 2014 to incorporate external challenge.
Action: ONS to provide an update to ONS Board members on progression pay, pending the outcome of ongoing discussions with Treasury.
Action: Secretariat to schedule an information session about the process for arriving at National Accounts classifications decisions at a future, provisionally January, ONS Board meeting.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)59a] and [SA(ONS)(13)59b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key events and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 The Board heard that Mr Paul Woobey would be leaving ONS after Christmas and that Mr Watson was now engaged in a re-design of the top-level structure of the ONS. Two new top-level committees were to be formed: an Investment Committee and a Statistical Policy Committee. These would report to the Executive Leadership Team.
2.3 A new Senior Civil Service leadership training initiative had been launched for both ONS and Authority staff. The first event had been successful and received positive feedback from participants.
2.4 The meeting considered the Beyond 2011 consultation and ways in which Board members could best be informed of progress with this.
Action: ONS to provide weekly updates on how the Beyond 2011 consultation is progressing, including a list of people and organisations who have responded.
2.5 A new page featuring principal ONS economic time series had been launched on the web site. Information about this has been circulated to Authority Board members. The new Application Programming Interface (API) and data explorer was also due for launch soon and details about this would also be provided.
Action: Circulate details, when available, of the new API and data explorer to Authority Board members.
2.6 Progress with the ONS public consultation on cuts to outputs was considered. The consultation was due to close on 31 October. A public response to the consultation was planned in early 2014. It was agreed that this should form a significant item of business at the January meeting of the ONS Board.
2.7 The meeting further considered the need to develop robust criteria for assessing statistical priorities, to best inform the public response to the consultation on cuts. These criteria should also be discussed at the January meeting of the ONS Board, together with the emerging response to the consultation. The consultation response should reflect the tensions and interplay between stopping existing commitments and starting new work in a joined up way.
Action: Secretariat to schedule discussion of ONS consultation on cuts, and response to that consultation, for the January meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: Discussion on cuts to include review of criteria to be further developed for assessing priorities, including criteria for assessing the trade off between existing work and potential new work.
2.8 The meeting also considered progress with the IT (Information Technology) dissagregation project. Tendering was due to begin in January 2014. The Board agreed it wished to receive a formal update on progress at the November meeting of the ONS Board. It could then best consider how and when to receive further information.
Action: ONS Board to receive a formal update on progress with the IT dissagregation project from Dr Wooding, at the November meeting of the ONS Board.
3. Financial Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(13)60] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided assurance to the ONS Board that the financial position of the Authority was being managed with sound controls in place, and provided narrative around the key financial risks.
3.2 The meeting noted the Authority Board was due to consider the mid-year financial position at their next meeting in November.
4. Portfolio Delivery Unit Status Report [SA(ONS)(13)61] 4.1 Ms Bloomer introduced a paper which provided the Board with an overview of the ONS portfolio delivery status report. This included:
i. overall delivery confidence assessment and trend; ii. the ONS portfolio journey - extended to show how it connected to the ONS Strategy Roadmap; iii. information relating to all programmes and projects on the ONS investment portfolio; and iv. the investment portfolio business case schedule.
4.2 The Board welcomed the report and agreed to receive a further report at its February meeting.
Action: ONS Board to next consider the Portfolio Delivery Unit Status Report at its meeting of February 2014.
5. Benefits Realisation [SA(ONS)(13)61a] 5.1 Ms Bloomer and Mr Harris gave a report to the Board on Benefits Realisation.
5.2 The Board discussed the work undertaken so far, and the difficulties inherent in quantifying monetary benefits to statistical outputs. It was agreed that the subject merited a fuller discussion at a future meeting,
5.3 It was also agreed that a future discussion would benefit from some case studies to best illustrate how the benefits realisation work was undertaken and the assumptions that lay behind it.
Action: Return to benefits realisation at the February 2014 meeting of the ONS Board. ONS to provide illustrative case studies of how benefits are quantified.
6. Big Data [SA(ONS)(13)62] 6.1 Ms Dodd, Mr Ralphs and Ms Williams gave a presentation to the ONS Board on Big Data. This included a five minute You Tube video.
6.2 The meeting considered how ONS might best approach commercial companies to further explore potential work in this area, and how at the same time it should best keep stakeholders informed of its work.
6.3 It was agreed that ONS would develop a code of conduct around its approach to big data, and this would include development of 'red lines' it would not cross.
6.4 It was also agreed that the ONS Board would receive a regular updates on progress with the ONS Big Data project.
6.5 In conclusion, the meeting also asked that the Secretariat liaise with the Authority Chair with a view to scheduling a discussion of Big Data for a future meeting of the Authority Board in the new year.
Action: ONS to develop a code of conduct to describe its approach to big data.
Action: ONS to provide regular updates to the ONS Board of progress with the big data project.
7. Any Other Business 7.1 There was no other business.
7.2 The meeting concluded at 12:15. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Newport on Tuesday 19 November 2013.
8. Migration Statistics Workshop [SA(ONS)(13)63] 8.1 Mr Cope, Mr Silverman, Mr Simmons, Mr Kershaw and Mr Blunt introduced presentations about migration statistics. Mr Cope talked about the work of ONS on migration statistics, and Mr Simmons spoke about the work of the Home Office in this area.
8.2 Among the topics the workshop reviewed were:
i. the work and outcome of the Migration Statistics Improvement Programme; ii. the expectations of users in the area of migration statistics relative to what was currently possible given factors such as the absence of a population register and of border controls; iii. the recent report of the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) on migration statistics; iv. the role of PASC in this area, and the role that the Authority should play; v. the potential need for a new migrant survey, and how proposals for such a survey to be funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had not come to fruition; and vi. how the Authority might take the initiative on migration statistics. Ideas for this included a strategic review of migration statistics, or a Monitoring Review in the style of the recent Monitoring Review of Official Statistics in the Context of the Scottish Referendum.
Action: The meeting agreed that the points made in the workshop discussion about migration statistics should be fed into the forthcoming Authority Board discussion on this subject, due to be held in November.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 19 November 2013 Boardroom, Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mrs Caron Walker Mr Glen Watson Dr Neil Wooding
Other Attendees Mr Martin Brand (for item 5) Mr Peter Fullerton (for item 9)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green
Apologies Dame Moira Gibb
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 60th meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday 19 November 2013. Apologies were received from Dame Moira Gibb.
1.2 The minutes of the previous meeting on 22 October 2013 were agreed as a correct record.
1.3 Progress with actions was reviewed. All actions were complete or in hand.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)64a] and [SA(ONS)(13)64b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key developments and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 Initial results from the 2013 People Survey showed an improvement in the overall staff engagement index compared with results from the previous year. However, the Board heard that over the same period the response rate had fallen by about 10 per cent. This was most likely due to the PCS national boycott of the survey. The boycott had particularly affected ONS where the PCS branch had provided an alternative survey of their own for staff to complete. These factors meant that comparisons between the 2012 and 2013 People Surveys results could only be made with a great deal of uncertainty.
2.3 The Board agreed to consider the full results of the People Survey at their January meeting. It was important that these be reviewed alongside as much comparative information as possible, including results from other departments and the results of the ONS PCS alternative survey if these are available too.
Action: People Survey results to be reviewed at the January 2014 meeting of the ONS Board, and to include information about response rates and comparative information from other departments, previous years and the PCS survey.
2.4 Progress with the Beyond 2011 programme was discussed. ONS was now considering the medium and long term implications of pursuing a ‘mixed-economy’ approach to the future collection of census type information. Capability and capacity issues were challenging. The two principal dependencies were the progress of data sharing legislation in the New Year and discussions with Treasury which were anticipated to begin in summer 2014.
Action: The Beyond 2011 Programme to be a standing item on the agenda of future meetings of the ONS Board. The focus of reporting and discussion will be on ONS deliverables, capacity, skills and resource.
2.5 The Board went on to consider the monthly key issues paper and topics discussed included: classification of Network Rail in the National Accounts; continuing discussions with Treasury to agree the pay remit; statistics and the creative industries; and the forthcoming National Statistics Quality Review (NSQR) of Labour Market statistics.
Action: ONS to provide a question and answer briefing document to ONS Board members prior to publication of the National Accounts classification decision regarding Network Rail, which was expected to be made in December or January.
Action: Provide a briefing note to Authority Board members about statistics and the creative industries (issue 1327 on the issues log).
Action: ONS Board to be sighted on the Labour Market NSQR and the item to be considered at the January meeting of the ONS Board.
3. ONS Information Technology Disaggregation Project [SA(ONS)(13)65] 3.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with an update on project PRISE (Procurement of Replacement IT Service Environment), which was formed to deliver information technology (IT) service disaggregation.
3.2 The Board noted the progress made on the PRISE project and the key activities planned. It was clear from the paper that there were a number of challenges associated with the project. However, the Board agreed that it was important to fully explore all the possible benefits of service dissagregation, both short term and long term
3.3 The meeting considered the development of the business case for the project which was due to be submitted to the Treasury in the New Year, and the strategic impact the project could have on the organisation.
Action: ONS Board to consider the business case for the IT dissagregation project at its January meeting of January 2014.
4. ONS Response to the Review of Communications and Public Affairs [SA(ONS)(13)66] 4.1 The meeting noted that the report of the Review of Communications and Public Affairs had been discussed at length at the November meeting of the Authority Board. The next steps were for the ONS Director General to discuss with the report author how the findings would best be implemented.
4.2 It was agreed that both parties could submit an update on this work to the next ONS Board meeting. If discussion were concluded before that date, and an agreed way forward found, then this could be considered via correspondence.
Action: Reports from both Mr Watson and Mr Crine about how ONS intended to implement the findings of the Authority Review of Public Affairs to be considered via correspondence and, if needed, at the January meeting of the ONS Board.
5. Review of Business Investment and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Errors [SA(ONS)(13)67] 5.1 Mr Brand introduced his review into errors within Business Investment statistics and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) time series outputs published on 27 June and 25 July respectively. The ONS Board noted that the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) discussed the review on 13 November. ELT had accepted all the recommendations in principle.
5.2 The following points were made in discussion:
i. a number of the recommendations relating to quality assurance had been made in Mr Brand’s previous review of 2011 into a different error in economic statistics, but these had not subsequently been implemented. These recommendations were now repeated in the 2013 review; ii. it was essential to clearly establish who would be responsible for implementing the findings of the review, by when, and who would confirm this had been done; iii. there were serious and unresolved issues affecting National Accounts and these included resource, skills and systems; iv. under the present circumstances it would not be a surprise if further errors occurred; v. good management implementation of the review was critical, particularly given the challenges associated with implementing the changes required under the European System of Accounts (ESA) in 2014 and the proximity to the general election; vi. if a step change in resourcing was required this should be clearly signalled; vii. cultural issues also needed to be addressed. There was a high level of ‘internal churn’ within ONS with over 600 people moving posts per year. A relatively high proportion of these moves were in the National Accounts area (and had directly contributed to the error which was the subject of the review); viii. controls had been introduced to prevent staff leaving National Accounts but this also had the consequence of making a move into the area be perceived as even less attractive; ix. negative staff perceptions of the business area included poor systems, long hours and high pressure; x. the introduction of a ‘technical specialist’ grade in National Accounts seemed a promising way to positively incentivise and retain staff; and xi. wider issues for consideration could include engaging external experts to review systems and processes, including whether CORD (the Common ONS Repository Database) was the right platform on which to produce the National Accounts.
5.3 The Board concluded that a full management response to the review, together with highly focussed, timed action plan should be produced as a matter of urgency.
Action: Management response to the Brand review to be produced as a matter of urgency and to include: i. an account of what were the barriers to implementing recommendations from the 2011 Brand Review(s); ii. identify which recommendations from the 2013 review could be implemented quickly; iii. set deadlines by which all recommendations would be implemented; iv. monitor the implementation of the recommendations and report regularly to the ONS Board on this; v. implement the review's suggestion of creating 'technical specialist' posts in the National Accounts business area as a recruitment and retention tool; vi. produce a focussed action plan with high-level priorities, as a matter of urgency, to tackle the skills and staff gap in National Accounts and ensure the risks to delivery of ESA and Blue Book 2014 were sufficiently mitigated.
5.4 The Director General reported to the meeting that a separate potential error had been identified by Eurostat, and that a subsequent investigation by ONS had confirmed that there were errors in a number of tables. Headline GDP was unaffected. However, the tables would need to be re-issued with an accompanying corrections notice.
Action: Mr Brand to review the new error in GDP, as reported to the meeting by Mr Watson, and assess whether the recommendations in his report would have been sufficient to have prevented it occurring.
Action: Mr Watson to provide a briefing note for Authority Board members on the new error.
6. Public Sector Finances (PSF) Review [SA(ONS)(13)68] 6.1 Mr Bell introduced a paper on the ONS review of Public Sector Finance Statistics, which followed the Authority’s review into the treatment of the Asset Purchase Facility (APF). That review had included recommendations for ONS: i. to review the governance around the Public Sector Finances Technical advisory group and to improve communication of classification decisions; ii. to review the ex-measures used in Public sector Finances; and iii. to look again at whether a single organisation should take sole responsibility for the Public Finance Statistics publication (it is currently a joint publication between ONS and Treasury).
6.2 The Board noted the emerging findings from the review and the proposed handling. The report authors described informal consultation which had taken place with stakeholders on the proposed resolution of points i and ii above. Stakeholders had so far welcomed the proposals. It was agreed it was important to document these sentiments.
6.3 Point iii above had still to be resolved. Discussions with Treasury were ongoing.
6.4 The Board welcomed the report and the work done, and agreed that public consultation on the proposals was essential. The authors of the Authority’s APF review should also be consulted.
Action: Mr Bell to gather written evidence of stakeholder contentment with the emerging findings of the review of PSF, consult the authors of the Authority review of the treatment of the APF, and consult stakeholders more broadly.
7. Management Information, Risk and Business Planning [SA(ONS)(13)69] 7.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which presented the first ONS Reporting Digest to the ONS Board. The digest brought together key information about ONS performance into a single document. Information in the digest included progress against: i. ONS business plan deliverables and performance indicators; ii. UK Statistics Authority Strategy deliverables; iii. Civil Service Reform actions; and iv. additional performance indicators including those about people and risk.
7.2 The Board welcomed the report and agreed it was a significant step forward. A number of detailed comments were made for further improvement. Action: Mr Wooding to further develop the quarterly management information pack in light of discussion and present the next edition in February to the ONS Board.
8. Financial Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(13)70] 8.1 Mr Layland introduced the monthly finance report which provided narrative around the variances to the control totals and key financial risks.
8.2 For the current financial year an under spend of £0.8 million was forecast. Plans to reduce this further were detailed.
8.3 For the financial year 2014/15 a large over spend of £10 million was currently forecast. Options were currently under consideration to narrow this gap, including looking at the investment portfolio, use of contractors and property. Another factor was a significant anticipated fall in income in 2014/15.
Action: Mr Layland to further develop proposals for addressing the £10.3 million projected shortfall in 2013/14 and present these to the January meeting of the ONS Board. This to include a review of projected income.
9. Electronic Data Collection Programme [SA(ONS)(13)71] 9.1 Mr Fullerton introduced a paper which provided an update to the ONS Board on the Electronic Data Collection (EDC) programme.
9.2 The Board were invited to note the progress of the programme and the steps being taken to address the risks to its delivery. Programme status was currently rated ‘Amber/ Red’. The meeting heard that the past few weeks had seen some improvement in delivery confidence.
9.3 The Board discussed the current position. It was agreed that more performance metrics and sharper delivery dates would be useful when these were available. It was also fully consider good product design and the respondent experience.
10. Any Other Business 10.1 The meeting concluded at 13:00. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Newport on Tuesday 21 January 2014.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 21 January 2014 Newport
Present
UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Dame Moira Gibb Mr Joe Grice Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Mr Glen Watson Dr Neil Wooding (to item 6)
Secretariat Ms Sarah Green Mr Mervyn Stevens
Other Attendees Mrs Caron Walker (for item 3) Ms Alison Pattimore (for item 4) Mr Peter Fullerton and Ms Helen Patterson (for item 7) Mr Martin Ralphs and Ms Tegwen Green (for item 9)
Apologies Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Ms Jil Matheson Mr Robert Bumpstead
Declarations of interest Dame Moira Gibb, Member of the Board of NHS England (paragraph 7.1) 1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 61st meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday, 21 January 2014. Apologies were received from Ms Fairbairn, Ms Matheson and Mr Bumpstead. Ms Matheson and Mr Bumpstead were attending an oral evidence session of the Public Administration Select (PASC) that morning regarding crime statistics.
1.2 The Chair welcomed Mr Grice to his first meeting as a member of the ONS Board.
1.3 The minutes of the previous meeting on 19 November 2013 were agreed.
1.4 Progress with actions from the last meeting was reviewed. Dr Wooding reported on developments with project PRISE (Procurement of Replacement IT Service Environment). Where actions remained outstanding it was agreed that these would be completed as indicated below.
Action: ONS would provide briefing for the Authority Board about statistics and the creative industries before the next meeting of the Authority (6 February).
Action: ONS would now circulate the National Statistics Quality Review of Labour Market Statistics to the Non-Executive members of the ONS Board.
Action: ONS should ensure that discussions with the Cabinet Office regarding information technology disaggregation were documented fully. The business case for IT disaggregation would be submitted to the next (March) meeting of the ONS Board.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(13)01a] and [SA(ONS)(14)01b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key events. A report from the DG had been provided to members of the ONS Board on 23 December and the paper before the meeting provided an update on that report. The meeting noted the report and the following actions were agreed.
Action: ONS to provide the terms of reference for the ONS governance review to be carried out by the Welsh Audit Office to the members of the ONS Board.
Action: ONS to provide the report from the exercise to reduce pre-release access to ONS statistics to the Authority Board.
2.2 The meeting also noted that the customer satisfaction survey would be sent out shortly. It was agreed that the results of the survey would be reported in summary only in the Authority’s Annual Report and Accounts 2013/14.
2.3 Mr Watson reported that three new key issues had emerged since the last meeting.
i. Issue 1330: Non-compliance with Eurostat on data transmissions. For the first time Eurostat had produced an evaluation of member states’ performance against the European System of Accounts (ESA) 1995 regulations based on the quality of data transmissions between April and October 2013. The report indicated that the UK recorded the highest number of re-submissions of all EU member states.
ii. Issue 1331: Reduced data supply from the Bank of England. The Bank of England had indicated that they intended to provide data on Central Bank activities on a lagged (three to five quarters) rather than on the current timely basis. This could have a significant impact on the quality of the National Accounts and put the UK at risk of Eurostat infraction procedures.
iii. Issue 1332: Scottish growth data questioned by the Financial Times (FT). ONS had published experimental statistics of regional Gross Value Added (GVA) using the production approach rather than the income approach. Chris Giles of the FT had published an article which drew attention to the different picture of Scotland’s economic growth these estimates indicated compared with the official Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics produced by the Scottish Government.
2.4 The meeting noted these developments and the following actions were agreed.
Action: ONS to provide briefing for the Authority Chair regarding the Bank of England data supply issue.
Action: Authority Secretariat to circulate to the Non-Executive members of the ONS Board, subject to the Authority Chair’s agreement, the briefing provided for him regarding the experimental GVA.
2.5 In noting developments regarding the provision of data by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on Universal Credit claimants to ONS, it was agreed that the pressure needed to be kept on the DWP to resolve the issue and that it was essential that an audit trail of correspondence on the matter was maintained.
3. Action Plan in Response to Review of Business Investment and GDP Time Series Errors [SA(ONS)(14)04] 3.1 Mrs Walker presented the action plan for implementing the recommendations of the review of Business Investment and GDP time series errors. The report of the review had been considered by the last meeting of the ONS Board. The action plan set out the management response to each recommendation and progress implementation dates. Progress would be monitored and reported regularly, and progress would also be reviewed by Internal Audit.
3.2 There were broader challenges facing the National Accounts and Economic Statistics business areas, particularly concerning new and increasing demands on limited resources and capability. While there were 100 more staff in National Accounts compared with a year ago and there had been initiatives to develop technical capability, still more needed to be done. A range of measures had been taken to mitigate the residual risks arising from those challenges.
3.3 In welcoming this thorough response to the recommendations of the review and to the wider challenges facing these business areas, the meeting nevertheless acknowledged the residual risks arising from resource pressures and capability. It was agreed that the Authority Chair should be made aware of the resource and capability issues, and that the ONS Executive begin thinking about positioning for the (post General Election) Spending Review 2015 (SR15) should be prepared now. This should include work on international comparability of resourcing for National Statistical Institutes.
Action: ONS Board Chair to brief the Authority Chair on the resource and capability issues.
Action: ONS to begin work on the SR15.
4. People Survey 2013: Overview of Results [SA(ONS)(14)09] 4.1 Ms Pattimore introduced an overview of the results from the People Survey 2013 and the proposed response to the conclusions of those results. The Employee Engagement Index (EEI) had increased by one percentage point from 2012 to equal the Civil Service median, which meant that the ONS key performance indicator to achieve this had been met. The leadership and managing change score remained low at 35 per cent positive and efforts to improve this would be discussed at an SCS workshop in February.
4.2 The results of the survey nevertheless needed to be interpreted in the context of a fall in the response from 71 per cent in 2012 to 55 per cent in 2013. This was attributed to the Civil Service-wide boycott of the People Survey 2013 by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and the ONS PCS ‘Alternative Survey’. Six hundred PCS members of ONS staff had responded to the ‘Alternative Survey. PCS would be publishing the results very soon and these would also be shared with ONS management.
4.3 Dr Wooding reported that, although there was an increase in the number of respondents who reported feeling bullied or harassed at work, this was not supported by an increase in reported cases. The situation would continue to be monitored.
4.4 The meeting noted the difference in the EEI between Newport and Titchfield and that this was largely due to the implementation of the Titchfield staffing strategy following the completion of Census 2011 work, and the downgrading of 200 jobs. In response to this ONS was seeking to hold more corporate events in Titchfield and this included the ONS Excellence Awards in 2014.
4.5 The meeting agreed that ONS needed to do more in terms of making staff aware of the total benefits of their employment packages, particularly as compared with other jobs in the local areas.
5. Beyond 2011 Update Report [SA(ONS)(14)02] 5.1 Mr Watson introduced a paper which provided an update on the latest position with the Beyond 2011 project. The consultation had closed on 13 December and 719 responses had been received. The recommendation of the National Statistician regarding how the statistics provided by the decennial census might best be provided in the future would be made to the meeting of the Authority Board on 6 February. .
5.2 The work of the Beyond 2011 team continued to focus on a dual track approach of a mixture of an on-line census and data already provided to government. Kinetic Solutions had been commissioned by ONS to help assess the capability and capacity of ONS to deliver its full range of projects and programmes, especially in the light of the likely recommendations of the future of the census.
5.3 The meeting noted developments and it was agreed that a further update would be provided for the May ONS Board meeting.
Action: For the forward agenda for the May meeting.
6. Financial Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(14)03] 6.1 The ONS Board had been provided with a report on the financial position to the end of November on 23 December. Mr Layland reported on the financial position as at 31 December which was as follows:
i. Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) - an underspend of 1.3 million (November 0.9 million); ii. Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) – an underspend of 0.3 million (November 0.2 million); iii. Depreciation – an underspend of £3.3 million (November 2.7 million); and iv. Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) and the Net Cash Requirement had changed slightly but were still in line with the provisions of the Supplementary Estimate.
6.2 The reserve claim of £15 million for 2013/14 had been approved by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 9 December.
6.3 The latest position for 2014/15 had been agreed by the ELT at its meeting on 7 January, this being an overspend of £3.2 million compared with £10.3 million in November. A 2014/15 budget would be submitted to the March meeting of the Authority Board for approval.
6.4 The report by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountancy (CIPFA) on the financial maturity assessment had been received. The meeting agreed that this should be considered by the March meeting of the Audit and Risk assurance Committee in the first instance.
6.5 Discussions with the Cabinet Office regarding moves towards shared services were on- going. A business case setting options for the provision of services would be provided to the Authority Board in due course. The meeting noted that the Authority’s Accounting Officer would need to be satisfied that any agreed shared services arrangements delivered value for money.
6.6 The meeting noted all of these developments.
7. Response to Outputs Consultation [SA(ONS)(14)05] 7.1 Mr Fullerton and Ms Patterson presented a report on the response to the ONS public consultation on the future of 38 ONS outputs. There had been positive feedback from stakeholders on the way in which ONS had conducted this consultation exercise. It was proposed that seven lower impact outputs should be cut and this would realise savings of £0.9 million. Negotiations were on-going with other government departments, notably the Department of Health (DH), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and NHS England, regarding funding for some other outputs.
7.2 The meeting endorsed the proposed cuts and agreed that the ONS response to the public consultation should be published in early February. The response should highlight the outputs which were still the subjects of discussion regarding funding from other government departments. It was agreed that the ONS response needed to put the decisions into greater context, particularly the financial constraints, and it needed to be emphasised that 80 per cent of ONS outputs by spend were statutory obligations. The meeting also stressed the need for a communications plan for its publication.
Action: ONS to publish the response to the consultation in early February and to develop a communications plan for its publication.
8. ONS Response to the Crine Review [SA(ONS)(14)06] 8.1 Mr Watson reported that there had been constructive discussions with Simon Crine regarding the proposals in his report and, as a result, a way forward for addressing the recommendations in the Crine report had been agreed.
8.2 The meeting welcomed and endorsed the ONS response to the recommendations in the Crine review, and agreed the following.
i. A Head of Communications for ONS should be recruited. The post-holder would receive all ONS Board papers and would be invited as an observer to all meetings of the ONS Board. This arrangement would be reviewed after one year in post. ii. Digital Publishing Division should remain as part of Analysis and Dissemination Directorate for the time being but this position would be reviewed towards the end of 2014/15. iii. The ONS Board would advise the Authority Board that ONS should commission the proposed external review of information technology.
Action: ONS to take forward the recommendations of the Crine review as agreed.
9. Embedding Good Practice in ONS: Observations of the National Statistician’s Office Good Practice Team [SA(ONS)(14)07] 9.1 Mr Ralphs and Ms Green presented a report from the National Statistician’s Office Good Practice Team on embedding best practice in ONS. There was some very good practice in ONS and this expertise needed to be shared more widely. There also needed to be a reinvigorated commitment and enthusiasm from the top of ONS and throughout the organisation to embedding best practice.
9.2 The meeting noted that in response there would be discussions at ELT meetings on how best to refresh the response to best practice. The Chair of the ONS Statistical Products Working Group, Jacqui Jones would be making a report to the ELT after one year of the SPWG. It was also agreed that, when appointed, the new Head of Communications would need to address the issue of ensuring clear and consistent corporate messages.
10. Progress with Delivering the Authority’s Strategy [SA(ONS)(14)08] 10.1 The meeting considered a paper which would be submitted to the meeting of the Authority Board on 6 February which reported on the progress made by ONS in taking forward its strategic objectives in the Authority’s strategy.
10.2 The meeting noted the report and agreed that, while the ONS Board had confidence in the efforts of ONS management to deliver, the current RAG status in some cases in the report was too confident (GREEN). The Authority Board would need to take into consideration the residual risks associated with capacity and capability which had been highlighted earlier in the meeting (paragraph 3.3 above).
10.3 It was agreed that an update on Electronic Data Collection (EDC) should be submitted to the March meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: Update on EDC for the forward agenda for March.
11. Any other business 11.1 It was agreed that late changes to the timings of meetings should be minimised.
11.2 It was also agreed that ONS should ensure that acronyms are fully explained in all papers submitted to the ONS Board and the Authority Secretariat would ensure that this was carried out.
Action: ONS and Authority Secretariat to ensure acronyms are explained.
11.3 There was no other business and the meeting concluded at 13:00. The meeting scheduled for 18 February in Titchfield had been cancelled a short alternative meeting to consider budget and other priority issues would be arranged [subsequently confirmed for 12:30 to 14:00 on Wednesday 12 February, in London]. UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Wednesday, 12 February 2014 Boardroom, Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Dame Moira Gibb Mr Joe Grice Mr Paul Layland Ms Jil Matheson Mr Glen Watson Dr Neil Wooding
Other Attendees Mr Mike Prestwood (for item 6)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Bal Kaur Ms Sarah Green
Apologies Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Dr David Levy
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 62nd meeting of the ONS Board was held in London on Wednesday 12 February 2014. Apologies were received from Dr Levy and Ms Fairbairn.
1.2 The minutes of the previous meeting on 21 January 2014 were agreed as a correct record.
1.3 Progress with actions was reviewed. Actions were complete or in hand. A review of governance in ONS was also discussed and it was agreed that the review’s Terms of Reference be clarified.
Action: Mr Watson to clarify the Terms of Reference of the review of ONS governance being undertaken by the Welsh Audit Office and confirm that the ONS Board and Authority Board were beyond the review’s scope.
1.4 The Board heard an update on the exercise to reduce the incidence of pre-release access to statistics produced by ONS. A second round of negotiations with departments was ongoing. It was hoped that the exercise would be concluded by the first week of March. The following points were made in discussion:
i. a 40 per cent reduction in the total number of incidences of pre-release granted by ONS had originally been proposed; ii. following negotiations with departments however, a 15 to 20 per cent reduction was now thought more likely; iii. the nature of a coalition government tended to increase the demand for pre-release access; and iv. it was suggested the exercise should be revisited after the General Election.
1.5 The outcome of the consultation on reductions to ONS outputs had been published on Monday 10 February. Reaction had been relatively muted so far. Users of health statistics would be looking for other departments to respond positively in respect of production of these statistics.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(14)10a] and [SA(ONS)(14)10b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key developments that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 It was noted that current issues with the ONS website had been considered extensively at the last meeting of the Authority Board. Plans for a series of reviews and investigations were being developed in light of discussion at that meeting. A package of proposals would be submitted to the ONS Board Chair by the end of the week (Friday 14 February).
2.3 Following approval by the Cabinet Office of the 2013/14 pay remit, Mr Layland reported on negotiations with the Departmental Trade Union Side (DTUS). The DTUS had unanimously rejected the pay offer and were considering further steps, including whether to ballot members on industrial action.
2.4 The Board noted the forthcoming extraordinary meeting of the Crime Statistics Advisory Committee (CSAC). This followed the Authority’s decision to remove National Statistics status from police recorded crime statistics. ONS planned to submit a paper to CSAC relevant to these matters and it was agreed that this paper would be provided to members of the ONS Board.
Action: Secretariat to circulate to ONS Board Members the paper on crime statistics submitted by ONS to the forthcoming extraordinary meeting of CSAC.
2.5 The monthly key issues report included a new item regarding the classification in the National Accounts of ‘Private Finance 2’ (PFI2). It was agreed that the Authority Board should be kept informed of progress with this.
Action: Authority Board to be kept informed of developments with the classification of Private Finance 2 in the National Accounts.
3. Finance Reporting Update [SA(ONS)(14)11a] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced the monthly finance report which set out the financial position and provided narrative around the variances to the control totals and key financial risks. The financial data contained in the report was as at 31 December 2013.
3.2 The Board heard that the total projected under spend for 2013/14 had grown to £4.9 million. This comprised two elements:
i. a forecast net under spend of resource and capital which had increased by £0.5 million compared with the previous month to £1.6 million; and ii. a forecast under spend against the depreciation budget, which was ring-fenced, and had increased to £3.3 million following a review of asset life.
3.3 The under spend against resource and capital was due to reductions in the forecast of contingency expenditure and revised forecasts of vacancies. Plans to utilise these funds by the end of the financial year were considered, and the Board heard that ONS Directors were confident of achieving this.
3.4 The Board considered the reasons for the two largest under spends in the Investment Portfolio in 2013/14, the Beyond 2011 and Electronic Data Collection (EDC) programmes. It was understood that the under spend on EDC was in part due to an earlier delay in gaining approval of the business case, and, to the fact that some development work originally to have been out-sourced would now be done in-house. Significant elements of contingency had also not been utilised.
3.5 The meeting also considered and clarified the treatment of the investment fund in the finances, which was not otherwise clear from the information provided in the paper.
Action: Aberrant or otherwise notable figures in the monthly finance update to be referenced with an accompanying explanatory note in future (for example 2013/14 investment fund, under spends on EDC and Beyond 2011).
4 Budget 2014/15 Reporting [SA(ONS)(14)11b] 4.1 Mr Layland presented a report on budget planning for 2014/15.
4.2 Taking all factors into account, the overall funding position for 2014/15 represented a reduction of £6.35 million compared with the previous year. The Board noted that there was a risk that further cuts might be applied to funding on Budget Day on 19 March.
4.3 In November 2013 the ONS Board had considered a projected shortfall of £10.3 million between expenditure and funding for 2014/15. Since then further planning work had resulted in a marked improvement in the position such that the budget for 2014/15 was now balanced. Factors that had contributed to this included: more realistic assumptions around vacancies, greater accuracy in scoping costs of major programmes (particularly IT related programmes), increased income forecast, and reductions in the allocations to over programming and to contingency.
4.4 The Board welcomed the improved situation and heard that work would continue on the alignment of the budget to salaries, wages and workforce planning. More information about the workforce would be included in a revised budget paper.
4.5 Further information on the breakdown of expenditure was also requested by the ONS Board, so that it would be clear how much was budgeted for each of the major programmes and projects and how this compared with previous years.
4.6 Subject to these revisions the Board agreed that the budget paper should be submitted to the next meeting of the Authority Board on 25 March.
4.7 Variation in income was also considered. The income forecast for 2014/15 had improved since the position was considered in November 2013 due to potential successful bids for survey work funded by other government departments, and, due to grants from Eurostat. However, income would due reduce overall from £25.4 million in 2013/14 to £23.8 million in 2014/15. This reflected an overall reduction in survey funding by departments.
Action: Revise the 2014/15 draft budget in light of discussion prior to submission to the March meeting of the Authority Board, to include:
• breakdown of budgets for programmes and projects to show priority areas such as National Accounts, website, EDC and other priority areas for the Authority; and • an indication of workforce numbers alongside salaries and wages, aligned with the longer term workforce planning exercise.
5. Progress with the ONS Business Plan [SA(ONS)(14)12] 5.1 Dr Wooding introduced an early draft of the ONS Business Plan for 2014 to 2017. The Board considered the plan and the following points were made in discussion:
i. consider simplifying the plan’s structure with emphasis on the nine strategic priorities alone rather than mapping these on to five further priority areas which, as stood, made the document complex and difficult to understand; ii. sharpen the focus and precision of the plan to include specific references to the current time period and include a small number of additional key performance indicators to reflect this (making no more than ten in total); iii. position the document in the context of the 2015 spending review, with section 8 in particular to make reference to value for money and investment in the future; iv. reconsider the aim to improve the ONS website by 2015/16 with a view to a more ambitious timetable; and v. consider how the plan aligns to the strategy and delivery of strategic aims.
Action: Business Plan to be amended in light of discussion and amended version to be considered via correspondence in April, with the May meeting of the ONS Board to consider final approval.
Action: Secretariat to provide ONS with OfCom Business Plan as an example of good practice.
6. National Statistics Quality Review: Labour Market Statistics [SA(ONS)(14)13] 6.1 Mr Watson asked the Board to note the key recommendations, publication approach and implementation planning from the first report in a new series of National Statistics Quality Reviews (NSQR), of the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Mr Prestwood joined the discussion, reporting the review’s conclusion that the LFS produced high quality statistics and that lower response rates had not increased bias in the estimates.
6.2 The LFS NSQR would be published on 21 February on the ONS website. In advance of publication it would be shared with the Bank of England and the Treasury.
6.3 Further consideration would be given to the priority actions for implementation and the wider labour market strategy.
Action: Confirm that the report’s subject and title was the Labour Force Survey, and not ‘Labour Market Statistics’ in their totality as the paper was titled.
7. Any Other Business 7.1 There was no other business. The meeting concluded at 14:00. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Newport on Tuesday 18 March 2014. UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 18 March 2014 Boardroom, Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Dame Moira Gibb (from item 2) Mr Joe Grice Mr Paul Layland Ms Jil Matheson Mr Glen Watson Dr Neil Wooding
Other Attendees Mr Pat Hayman (for item 9) Mr David Harris (for item 9) Mr Lambros Hajilambi (for item 11)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Bal Kaur Ms Sarah Green
Apologies Dr David Levy
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 63rd meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday 18 March 2014. Apologies were received from Dr Levy.
1.2 The minutes of the previous meeting on 12 February 2014 were agreed as a correct record.
1.3 Progress with actions was reviewed. All actions were complete or in hand. The Board heard that a review of ONS Governance, undertaken by the Welsh Audit Office, was progressing. The work would conclude at the end of March.
1.4 An update on the Private Finance 2 classification case had been provided to the Authority Board in a note circulated on 11 March. The National Accounts Classification Committee would also be considering this further in a meeting to be held in March.
Action: Ms Green to confirm the date of the National Accounts Classification Committee due to consider Private Finance 2
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(14)14a] and [SA(ONS)(14)14b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key developments and meetings that had taken place since the last meeting of the ONS Board.
2.2 There was a significant increased risk of industrial action in 2014 due to the likely removal of contractual pay progression. The issue would be closely monitored.
2.3 The meeting noted the ongoing website issues and that the matter would be further considered at the Authority Board meeting on 25 March 2014.
2.4 Following further negative coverage of ONS in the Times (on Zero-hour contracts), the meeting considered the need for a relationship management plan with the media. This could involve identifying individuals to be responsible for building relationships with key characters, along with a plan to maintain these.
2.5 The Board considered national and international quality and standards of statistics. The issues considered included monitoring of standards, benchmarking, and internationally comparable measures of quality.
Action: ONS to collate an overview of various quality indicators with the aim of identifying an international quality benchmark. Consider this at a future meeting of the ONS Board.
2.6 The Board heard that the customer satisfaction survey had closed on 12 March. Responses from the Bank and central government departments had been positive.
Action: Consider a full report on the outcome of the ONS customer satisfaction survey at the May meeting of the ONS Board.
2.7 Mr Watson reported on the new key issues that had emerged since the last meeting.
• Issue 1331: Reduced data supply from the Bank of England. Ms Matheson and Mr Watson were due to meet the Governor of the Bank in April. An update would be provided following this.
• Issue 1212: Recorded Crime Statistics. The de-designation of crime statistics had been considered at the extraordinary meeting of the Crime Statistics Advisory Committee (CSAC). A programme of work had been agreed with a view to improving the quality of the statistics sufficiently to re-apply for National Statistics status at a future point.
3. Finance Report [SA(ONS)(14)15] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided assurance to the Board that the financial position of the Authority is being managed with sound controls in place, and provided narrative around the variances to the control totals and key financial risks. The financial data reported as at 31 January 2014 was as follows:
i. Resource and Capital Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) – a projected underspend of £6.0 million; ii. Depreciation – this figure includes an underspend of £4.3 million relating to depreciation, an increase of £1.0 million since February; and iii. Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) – an increase of £0.8 million from last month following revaluation of the Newport building.
3.2 It was noted that the £4.3 million underspend on depreciation could not be utilised.
3.3 The meeting noted these developments.
4. Quarterly Reporting Digest: Management Information, Risk and Business Planning [SA(ONS)(14)16] 4.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which presented the Board with quarter three of the ONS Reporting Digest. Some of the key points included:
i. discussion on workforce pay settlement with Treasury was ongoing; ii. a learning framework had been published earlier this year; iii. the Senior Civil Service and Executive Leadership Team leadership programmes had been taking place throughout this quarter; and iv. an increased level of sickness and workplace absence which was expected to continue through the current quarter would be closely monitored and additional action considered to control this.
4.2 One Key Performance Indicator(KPI) showed a small improvement to 33.2 per cent from 32 per cent on the proportion of statistical processes and systems which are resilient. The Board considered further work was needed to get a better understanding of this KPI. The following points were made:
i. what would a reasonable target on resilience be? 50 – 60 per cent of outputs?; ii. what action needs to be taken to achieve this higher figure?; iii. what are the risks the organisation is exposed to on a low level of resilience – are all products equally important?; iv. what are the five to ten most important products; and v. provide some real case study examples to demonstrate ‘resilience’ in these examples.
Action: To provide more information about the KPI relating to the proportion of statistical processes and systems which are resilient, including:
• case studies of how the resilience of different outputs is assessed; • breakdown of resilience against the top (perhaps top 10) outputs; and • plans for addressing the resilience issues for each of these outputs.
5. Electronic Data Collection [SA(ONS)(14)17] 5.1 This item was deferred for consideration at the next meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: The EDC Programme to be considered at the next meeting of the ONS Board
6. Administrative Data Research Centre – England [SA(ONS)(14)18] 6.1 This item was deferred for consideration at the next meeting of the ONS Board.
Action: The ADRC(E) paper to be considered at the next meeting of the ONS Board
7. ONS Information Technology (IT) Disaggregation Project (PRISE) [SA(ONS)(14)19] 7.1 Dr Wooding introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with an update on project PRISE (Procurement of Replacement Information Technology (IT) Service Environment), which was established to deliver IT service disaggregation in the financial year 2015/16.
7.2 The Board heard that progress since November 2013 included:
i. development of Service Integration and Management (SIAM) design and recruitment of a Head of SIAM role; ii. development and approval of a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOC) by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and in principle by the Efficiency and Reform Group ERG); iii. development and approval of procurement and communication strategies, with budget of £0.5 million agreed by ELT; and iv. approval for the use of different IT suppliers (currently six service towers, two existing ones).
7.3 The Board considered developments and risks associated with the project. These included the extent to which there was sufficient contract management capability at ONS to manage this process.
Action: The ONS Board to be regularly updated with developments on the IT disaggregation project (PRISE)
8. Eurostat Grant Management Internal Audit Report [SA(ONS)(14)20] 8.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with sight of the Internal Audit report on Eurostat Grant Management, which had received an audit opinion of ‘improvement required’.
8.2 The meeting considered the adverse opinion to be particularly disappointing, given the problems in this area over the past few years.
8.3 The Board were informed that there were quarterly reviews in place with RAG status updates of all Eurostat grants that would help prevent future problems. The Board reiterated the need for adequate controls throughout the organisation.
8.3 The Board noted the report would be discussed at the Audit Committee meeting on 28 March.
9. Portfolio Delivery Unit Report including Benefits Realisation [SA(ONS)(14)21] 9.1 Mr Hayman and Mr Harris introduced a paper which provided the ONS Board with an executive overview of the ONS Portfolio Delivery Status Report. This included the:
i. ONS portfolio journey; ii. information relating to all programmes and projects on the ONS investment portfolio; and iii. a portfolio dictionary.
9.2 The meeting considered the report and discussed how ‘stakeholder value’ was assessed.
9.3 It was agreed that a further discussion of benefits realisation would be useful.
Action: Secretariat to consider scheduling a substantive discussion or workshop on benefits realisation in the context of VFM and the forthcoming spending review.
10. Any Other Business 10.1 The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Newport on Tuesday 20 May 2014.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 20 May 2014 Boardroom, Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Dame Moira Gibb Mr Joe Grice Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Ms Jil Matheson Mr Glen Watson Dr Neil Wooding
Other Attendees Mr Peter Fullerton (for item 4 and 5) Mr Ben Whitestone (for item 6) Ms Sue Kelliher (for item 8) Mr Ian Cope (for item 10)
Ms Nikki Miller (for item 10) Ms Ruth Kind (for item 10)
Secretariat Ms Bal Kaur Ms Sarah Green Ms Vanessa Holden
Apologies None
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 64th meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday 20 May 2014. There were no apologies.
1.2 The minutes of the previous meeting on 18 March 2014 were agreed as a correct record.
1.3 Progress with actions was reviewed. All actions were complete or in hand. The Board offered its thanks and appreciation to Ms Matheson for her last five years as National Statistician. The positive media response to Mr John Pullinger’s appointment as the Authority Chief Executive and National Statistician from 1 July 2014 was also noted.
1.4 The Board heard that the Private Finance 2 classification case would be considered by the National Accounts Classification Committee (NACC) in June 2014, at which time Mr Watson would be able to provide an update to the ONS Board.
Action: Mr Watson to keep the Board updated on progress of NACC’s consideration of Private Finance 2.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(14)23a] and [SA(ONS)(14)23b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided an update on key developments and meetings that had taken place in April and May 2014.
2.2 The meeting heard that Ms Sian Callaghan, currently the Regional Corporate Affairs Director at British Gas, had accepted the role of Deputy Director Communications, and her appointment would commence on 1 July 2014. Mr Simon Crine had been involved in the recruitment process for this role. Mr Watson noted that further senior-level recruitment was currently on hold, until he is able to speak with Mr Pullinger about the roles.
2.3 The Board heard that the National Wellbeing programme had received positive recognition in a letter sent from the Prime Minister to Sir Gus O’Donnell. The Board welcomed the letter and the good work of the team and agreed that Mr Watson would inform staff of the recent positive response by the Prime Minister commending ONS on the outcomes of this project.
2.4 The Board noted that discussions between ONS and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) regarding the creation of a high quality register of natural assets were progressing well. Mr Watson confirmed that this register would be fully funded by DEFRA.
2.5 The Board thanked Mr Watson for his note on European System of Accounts 10 and discussed the issues briefly, in advance of a fuller discussion at the 5 June 2014 Authority Board meeting. Board members suggested that the ESA10 note could helpfully be expanded in advance of the Authority Board meeting to make clear the collective impact of ESA10 changes, and how this compares with the impacts experienced by other national statistical institutes. Board members also restated the need for a strong narrative which makes clear why these changes are necessary, and the improvements that they offer.
Action: In advance of the 5 June Authority Board meeting, ONS to develop a ‘ready- reckoner’ as part of its paper on ESA10, which demonstrates:
• the collective impact of changes required under ESA 2010 on National Accounts; • the collective impact of ‘other’ changes to National Accounts, to be introduced in September 2014; and • how these figures compare with the impacts experienced by (or expected to be experienced by) other NSIs.
2.6 Mr Watson reported that one new issue had emerged since the last meeting: Issue 1337: HMT concerns of using CPIH for inflation monitoring. The Board acknowledged the sensitivities surrounding this issue and would follow its progress with interest.
3. Finance Report [SA(ONS)(14)24] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper on the financial position of the Authority, the variances to the control totals and key financial risks. The financial data contained in the report represented the interim position for the year ending 31 March 2014 as follows:
iv. Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) excluding depreciation – an underspend of £4.1 million (March £5.8 million); v. Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) – an underspend of £0.4 million (March £0.2 million); and vi. Depreciation – an underspend of £3.5 million (March £4.3 million).
3.2 The Board heard that the Authority’s financial position demonstrated that the reserve claim for 2013/14 was warranted and justified, and noted that the Authority is currently seeking approval from Treasury for access to the reserve for 2014/15. An update paper on the 2015 Spending Review will be provided to the 5 June Authority Board meeting.
3.3 The Board agreed it was important to understand potential changes to the Authority’s financial position which might result from delayed projects or additional work. It was agreed a schedule for revenue generating costs should be included in future financial reporting.
Action: Mr Layland, as part of the next finance report, to provide a more detailed analysis of income, together with a summary of the impact of additional income and associated costs.
4. Electronic Data Collection [SA(ONS)(14)25] 4.1 Mr Fullerton introduced a paper updating the Board on progress with the Electronic Data Collection (EDC) programme, which had been requested at the November 2013 meeting.
4.2 The Board noted significant developments since November 2013 and heard that delivery confidence had improved from red to amber. The following points were made in discussion:
i. the delay of running e-questionnaires, which was being hampered by the availability of a suitably secure, accredited web host, was considered to be a short-term risk; ii. the EDC programme would impact on stakeholders and consideration should be given to how these communications would be managed; and iii. a number of lessons were being learnt from both Netherlands and Scandinavia, who have already shifted to electronic data collection.
4.3 It was recognised that success of this programme was likely to have a huge transformational impact on the shape of the organisation and its staff, and this needed to be carefully considered alongside the wider skills and capabilities project that was already underway.
5. ONS Administrative Data Centre [SA(ONS)(14)26] 5.1 Mr Fullerton also introduced a paper which updated the Board on the ONS contribution to the Administrative Data Research Centre for England (ADRC-E), one of four research centres established to form the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN).
5.2 The Board expressed concern at the reduction of costs for delivering the ONS contribution to the ADRC from £16 million to £7.5 million over the five year project, following ESRC’s rejection of the costings presented in the initial business case. Board members sought assurance that ONS was confident in its ability to deliver to the revised budget, and considered flexibility regarding the contract. During this discussion, the following points were made: i. ONS will renegotiate the contract after 18 months to review the underlying assumptions; ii. ONS is identifying skills and capabilities required to deliver the ADRC-E project; iii. a greater explanation was needed on where the financial risks of the project would lie; and iv. a suitable business model through building skills in ONS, including a business case to attract the right skills were being considered and ONS will be building on the existing infrastructure with the Statistical Research Environment and Virtual Microdata Laboratory.
5.3 The financial and reputational risks for ONS were considered to be high and the Board sought greater assurance on the success of this project, including an explanation on where the financial risk lay.
Action: ONS to prepare a paper for the Board’s next meeting which demonstrates how ADRC costings were reduced from £16million to £7.5 million, and which sets out ONS’s confidence in its ability to deliver within this budget.
6. Business Plan 2014/15 [SA(ONS)(14)27] 6.1 Mr Whitestone introduced a revised draft of the ONS business plan for 2014 to 2017, and changes to the high level ONS key performance indicators (KPIs).
6.2 The Board agreed that considerable improvement to the business plan had been made since members had considered the first draft in February 2014. Board members made several suggestions on the draft, including:
i. re-defining / expanding the four priority areas and strengthening the link between priority areas and the rest of the strategy; ii. reviewing the deliverables; iii. removing jargon to ensure the business plan is appropriate for an external audience; and iv. reviewing the target for pre-release access and the success of social media activities.
6.3 The meeting also considered the revised KPIs. The Board suggested that KPI 1 be reworded to distinguish between key stakeholders and other customers. Members suggested that KPI 4 be split into separate KPIs on time and quality, and that ONS commit to a target of 99 per cent on timeliness, by 2015/16.
6.4 Board members agreed to provide further comments to Mr Whitestone by the end of the week, and requested the opportunity to see the final business plan before its publication.
6.5 The Board also noted ONS had succeeded in achieving six out of its seven KPIs for the period 2013/14.
Action: Mr Whitestone to revise the business plan. Plan to be re-circulated to ONS Board members before the next meeting, and ahead of publication. The plan should:
• reflect comments that are received from Board members via email; and • incorporate those from the meeting that have been listed above
7. Skills and Capabilities for Projects and Programmes [SA(ONS)(14)28] 7.1 Mr Watson introduced a paper which provided an update on ONS work to assess its capability and capacity to deliver future work programmes – this had been requested at the January 2014 ONS Board.
7.4 The meeting discussed the impact that new work programmes would have on existing staff. It was noted that although some staff may have transferable skills and others trained up with new skills, there would still be a need to offer a severance package.
7.5 The Board emphasised the importance of keeping staff informed of these changes and agreed a narrative to staff was needed. Board members also requested indicative timeframes for this activity.
Action: ONS to prepare a paper on workforce planning for the ONS Board to consider at its July meeting, which includes an indicative timetable of workforce planning activity, and plans for the communication of a workforce planning ‘narrative’ to staff.
8. Summary of Key Accounts / Customer Satisfaction Survey [SA(ONS)(14)29] 8.1 Ms Kelliher introduced a paper which summarised the findings of the ONS customer satisfaction survey completed in March this year.
8.2 The Board noted that the customer satisfaction survey provided a rich source of information for the organisation, and demonstrated some very positive results. Board members agreed the information would be helpful in developing ‘action plans’ for key stakeholders and also suggested that ONS could use the information to identify common organisational problems.
8.3 Board members agreed that ONS should revise its plans for communicating the results of the customer satisfaction survey to stakeholders. They agreed that communications should distinguish between key stakeholders and other respondents, and should clearly set out the ‘next steps’ on issues of concerns.
Action: ONS to revise its plans for the public communication of results from the customer satisfaction survey and to submit a note on what transpires from this. This plan should: • clearly communicate ‘next steps’; • distinguish between key stakeholders and the aggregated response; and • the plan should also have regard to previous approaches to the publication of key accounts material; and • it should also have regard to previous approaches to the publication of key accounts material.
9. Any Other Business 9.1 There was no other business.
10. Web Data Access Demonstration 10.1 Ms Miller and Ms Kind gave a demonstration on Web Data Access (WDA), which is the ‘back office’ system for the loading, management and publishing of datasets.
10.2 Board members thanked Ms Miller and Ms Kind for the presentation, which they agreed had been helpful. Board members asked about the risk of linking WDA with the ONS website, but were assured that Thoughtworks, who had worked on recent issues relating to the ONS website, were looking at mitigating any risk and any residual risks. These findings will be reported to a forthcoming Authority Board.
10.3 The Board noted the WDA demonstration would also be presented at the May 2014 Committee of Official Statistics and Assessment Committee meetings.
10.4 The meeting concluded at 13:30. The next meeting of the ONS Board would be held in Titchfield on Tuesday 17 June 2014.
UK STATISTICS AUTHORITY
ONS Board
Draft Minutes
Tuesday, 22 July 2014 Boardroom, Newport
Present UK Statistics Authority Professor Sir Adrian Smith (Chair) Ms Sian Callaghan Mr Joe Grice Mr Paul Layland Dr David Levy Mr John Pullinger Mr Glen Watson
Other Attendees Ms Jan Jones (for item 4)
Secretariat Mr Robert Bumpstead Ms Sarah Green Ms Bal Kaur
Apologies Ms Carolyn Fairbairn Dame Moira Gibb Dr Neil Wooding
Declarations of Interest None
1. Apologies, Minutes and Matters Arising 1.1 The 65th meeting of the ONS Board was held in Newport on Tuesday 22 July 2014. Apologies were received from Dame Moira Gibb, Ms Fairbairn and Dr Wooding. The Chair welcomed Mr Pullinger and Ms Callaghan to their first meeting of the ONS Board, noting also that this would be the final ONS Board meeting.
1.2 The minutes of the previous meeting on 20 May 2014 were agreed as a correct record, subject to one amendment.
1.3 The Board heard that a communication plan is being prepared following on from the customer satisfaction survey which was published on 25 June 2014.
Action: A note to communicate the results of the customer satisfaction survey which sets out a tailored approach for key stakeholders and the ‘next steps’, to be circulated to Board members.
2. Director General’s Report [SA(ONS)(14)32a] and [SA(ONS)(14)32b] 2.1 Mr Watson introduced the Director General’s report which provided the Board with an update on key developments and meetings that had taken place in July.
2.2 The meeting heard that Mr Nick Vaughan, currently Deputy Director of the Economic Assessment team at Treasury had been appointed to the role of Director of National Accounts and Economic Statistics. Mrs Caron Walker was due to retire from this post in October.
2.3 Mr Watson informed the Board that the pay reward progression business case, contrary to the update provided in the July report, had not yet been approved by Treasury. ONS were working through the implications of costs involved to buy-out the staff contractual right to pay progression. The business case was currently being developed and would be presented to the unions subject to Treasury agreement.
2.4 The business case to pay an allowance to recruit IT staff had now been approved by Treasury.
Action: ONS to update Board members, during Autumn, on the settlement for the case on staff’s contractual right to pay progression
2.5 The Board heard that an Information Capability Healthcheck had now been completed by Deloittes and some areas of strength and weakness had been identified.
Action: Information Capability Healthcheck report to be circulated to ONS Board members.
2.6 The Board went on to consider the monthly key issues report and topics discussed included:
i. Website Taxonomy and resulting issues: A ‘go’ ‘no-go’ decision on web data access would be taken shortly and the situation looked positive. A paper outlining the options moving forward on the website was due to be presented to the Authority Board on 31 July; ii. HMT concerns on Consumer Price Inflation - Housing (CPIH): Evaluation of the data provided by the Valuation Office Agency was ongoing. All scenarios should be considered including a worst case scenario of de-designation;
Action: It was agreed that the CPIH issue should be flagged to the Authority.
iii. Universal Credit: DWP were still unable to provide information about recipients of Universal Credit for claimant count statistics. As Universal Credit pilot areas were rolled out over the year this would have an increasing effect on the quality of the statistics;
Action: It was agreed that this issue should be flagged to the Authority Board for potential escalation by the CEO at Permanent Secretary level, and the Chair at Ministerial level. De-designation was a distinct possibility.
iv. Pensions data in the National Accounts: The meeting heard that the plans for the Blue Book were on track. The Authority Chair had raised concerns on the treatment of pensions which it was reported had now been addressed. The Chair emphasised the continuing importance of external coverage about substance as well as process; v. GDP: Overall delivery confidence had moved from amber/red to amber. The communications on National Accounts Classification Case (NACC) changes were going well, including a well received recent Economic Forum. Further articles planned for 3 September would provide quarterly and annual GDP growth rates.
2.7 The Board noted there were two new issues:
• National Accounts Classification Case - Sukuk (Sukuk is an Arabic term which refers to the Islamic equivalent of bonds. This referred to the classification of the first UK Government financial certificates complying with Sharia Law. The Classification Committee would be meeting this month to make a decision; and • Criticism of Average Earning Statistics Excluding the Self Employed: The Labour Market team had been asked to formulate a proposal on options to address the issues raised by the Resolution Foundation. The issue was considered particularly contentious in the run up to an election.
Action: This issue to be flagged with the Authority Board at an Autumn meeting and included in considerations about SR15.
3. Finance Report [SA(ONS)(14)33] 3.1 Mr Layland introduced a paper which presented the Authority’s 2014/15 financial position as at 31 May 2014. The Board noted the new income sections that were now incorporated in to the report. It was noted that currently an under spend at the end of the year of the order of £3 million was anticipated.
3.2 A series of 18 work packages had been agreed by the ONS Executive Leadership Team to take forward work toward SR2015 over the next eight to ten months, including a review of SR2010.
3.3 The Board heard that the ‘all other income’ column of £3.4 million represented 10 to 15 smaller programmes. ONS Directors would be assessing options for income generation with Mr Layland against their business and finance plans, in the next couple of months.
Action: Mr Layland to ensure future reporting on income generation includes an account of the various components contributing to the ‘all other income’ figure
3.4 The Board heard that the principal risk to this year’s budget was Treasury acceptance of the reserve claim in respect of the Improving Dissemination Programme (IDP) and of prices re-engineering. This would be submitted to Treasury toward the end of the year.
4. Quarterly Digest: ONS Board Performance update [SA(ONS)(14)34] 4.1 Ms Jones introduced a report for quarter 1 2014/15 on the performance of ONS and the progress made towards its business plan. The Board welcomed the Quarterly Digest’s new, more concise format. 4.2 The meeting noted the relatively high number of average working days lost (8.2) due to sickness absence over the year in ONS. Current figures from other Government Departments would help give some context to the figure. The Board heard the Integrated Planning Unit would be working with Directors to try and address this problem.
Action: ONS to provide the ONS Board with a comparison of sickness absences across other Government Departments
4.3 The meeting considered a reported increase in the number of contractors over the last quarter. The increase might be explained by a change in the way ‘contractors’ were classified. The Board sought further clarity on the terminology.
Action: Future reporting to include a definition of what represents a ‘contractor’
4.4 The Board noted progress had been made against the Business Plan deliverables. Greater clarity was needed on which metrics were external targets. Mr Pullinger suggested that presenting this data as a performance dashboard in future would be helpful.
Action: The Business Plan to highlight which of the metrics are external targets
5. Internal Audit Report [SA(ONS)(14)35] 5.1 Mr Watson introduced the Internal Audit report on Workforce Planning, which was of the opinion ‘improvement required’. This had been submitted to the May 2014 meeting of the Audit Committee. 5.2 The meeting noted the report, and that actions were now in hand to address the report’s recommendations.
6. Workforce Planning [SA(ONS)(14)36] 6.1 Mr Watson introduced a paper which provided an update on workforce planning since the ONS Board meeting of 18 March 2014.
6.2 The Board heard that the ELT had discussed the shape and size of a future workforce which represented a 20 to 25 per cent smaller organisation by 2020. A breakdown of the reduction in the workforce across the various grades and job types was provided.
6.3 The Board heard about the significant changes needed in workforce and specialist capability, addressing skills gaps, driving through cultural change in the organisation and bringing together the skills agenda with workforce planning.
6.4 Mr Watson informed the Board that a five year workforce plan was to be developed in the Autumn. This plan would enable decisions to be made on recruitment, skills and would inform the SR2015 bid.
6.5 The Board agreed it was essential that workforce plans were better integrated with the wider ONS business plan and critical for Mr Layland to ensure an integrated submission for SR2015 was presented to Treasury.
6.6 The Board agreed the importance of the workforce planning agenda and for it to be an item which the Authority Board may wish to consider regularly on future Board meetings.
7. Any Other Business 7.1 The Chair thanked all those present for their contribution to the ONS Board and gave a brief overview on the transition to the arrangements that would succeed it.
7.2 There was no other business.