HC Deb 28 May 2004 vol 422 cc240-1W
Norman Baker

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reason statistics relating to increases in greenhouse gases from the transport sector were removed from the recent Office of National Statistics report on the environment. [177225]

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Norman Baker, dated 7 June 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the removal of information from the ONS Environmental Accounts (177225).

The information on greenhouse gas emissions from transport were not removed from the ONS Environmental Accounts report published on 20 May 2004. The report was never altered from the version originally prepared by professional statisticians within ONS, and is publicly available on the National Statistics website.

The focus of the accompanying News Release changed during drafting, as there were some unresolved statistical concerns over the reconciliation of road freight emissions figures using alternative definitions. Given these concerns, it was decided that it would not be appropriate for the News Release to focus upon transport emissions as had been intended. This decision was taken independently by senior government statisticians, as a matter of professional judgement.

The circumstances surrounding this decision are explained in a letter that I sent to David Rowlands (Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport) on 28 May. This letter is available on the website of the Statistics Commission at: http://www.statscom.org.uk/media_pdfs/correspondence/letter0189.pdf

Norman Baker

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he takes to ensure that his policy that reports produced by the Office for National Statistics are not subject to political interference is upheld in respect of representations from the Department for Transport. [177226]

Ruth Kelly

Reports produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are not subject to political interference. All statistics published by ONS are prepared in accordance with the "Framework for National Statistics", published in June 2000. This places an obligation on official statisticiansto improve public confidence in official statistics by demonstrating that they are free from political interference".

As the Minister responsible for National Statistics, I fully support the principles set out in the 'Framework' document.

The final responsibility for the content form and timing of the publication of National Statistics, for which the ONS is responsible for, is the Director of ONS. Were Ministers to be consulted by him on any such matters, which is rare, then it would be through the National Statistics protocol on consultation.

ONS publishes some statistics where the components draw on the expertise of statisticians from the Government Statistical Service, who work in other Departments. It is not unusual for them to be asked to review how statistics that they have expertise in will be reported. These statisticians operate under the National Statistics Code of Practise.

The National Statistician, who is Director of the ONS, has released his own correspondence confirming that it was the advice of a senior statistician in the Transport Department which led to his senior staff deciding to change the press release which summarised the content of the Environmental Account being published by ONS. No changes were made to the substantive reports as a result of this exchange. Both the published and withdrawn versions are discoverable.

The assertion that ONS has been subject to political interference is contradicted by the very process applied by ONS.

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