The Official Statistics Order 2018

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

Section 6(1)(a) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (c. 18) (“the Act”) provides that statistics produced by the Statistics Board, a government department, the Scottish Administration, a Welsh ministerial authority, a Northern Ireland department, or any other person acting on behalf of the Crown are official statistics. Section 6(1)(b) of the Act provides that such other statistics as may be specified by order by a Minister of the Crown, the Scottish Ministers, the Welsh Ministers or a Northern Ireland department are also official statistics.

This Order specifies the statistics produced, or to be produced, by the persons listed in the Schedule as official statistics, to the extent that they are not otherwise official statistics by virtue of section 6(1)(a) of the Act and are not wholly Scottish devolved statistics or wholly Northern Ireland devolved statistics. This Order revokes the Official Statistics Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/1163) (“the 2013 Order”) and provides a revised list of persons. The Schedule lists forty-one persons, omitting no persons from the list contained in the 2013 Order (as that Order stood following amendments to it by S.I. 2013/2329, S.I. 2014/549 and S.I. 2017/1250) and adding four new persons. The new additions are Monitor, the National Health Service Trust Development Authority, the Office for Students and the Service Complaints Ombudsman. Additionally, the body listed in the 2013 Order as the Rail Passengers’ Council is listed in this Order as the Passengers’ Council, reflecting that body’s change in name.

The persons listed in the Schedule include a number of registered charities, but this Order does not impose any additional burdens on them. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.