1. UK Global Statistical News – Dashboard – November 2015
1. Hot topics ESS Vision 2020 – the journey so far important steps
in the development of European statistics
The ESS Vision 2020 is a common strategic response of the
European Statistical System (Eurostat, EU Member States and
EFTA countries) to the challenges that official statistics is facing.
The second edition of the ESS Vision Newsletter has been
published and includes: a focus on strategic risks to the Vision
from the last DGINS discussion; interviews with Frantisek
Bernadic, Director of Macro Economic Statistics, Statistical Office
of the Slovak Republic, and Deiter Sarreither, President of the
German Federal Statistics Office; and a focus on Vision
Implementation Project (VIP) Validation.
UK focus – where are we now?
Glen Watson hosted a forum on 10 November 2015 with UK
leads for each of the current eight VIPs in the Vision Portfolio.
The aim of the workshop was to highlight where UK is on each of
the VIPs; how we are engaging; how we are aligning to other UK
modernisation initiatives; and any associated cross-cutting
issues. Another forum is scheduled for 5 May 2016. Current VIPs
and their UK leads are: ESBRs - Andrew Allen, ONS - Big Data -
Nigel Swier, ONS - ESDEN - Jon Blake, ONS - DIGICOM - Laura
Dewis, ONS - ADMIN - Lucy Vickers, ONS – VALIDATION -
Pete Brodie, ONS - SIMSTAT (inc RESDESIGN) - Rafael
Mastrangelo and Andrea Prophet, HMRC - SERV - Sue Todd,
ONS.
DIGICOM VIP
The business case for DIGICOM (better open data) was
approved by ESSC on 19 November 2015. The UK helped to
shape it and is keen to continue with its development. This VIP
needs pace and agility, because change in the context for its
work is inevitable – digital standards are needed and needs to be
aligned with national initiatives. At ESSC Glen Watson, ONS
suggested the need for minimum digital service standards.
For more detail contact: jo.green@statistics.gsi.gov.uk
Euro barometer survey on official statistics
The Euro barometer survey on official statistics, conducted by the European Commission, has
been re-run this year. European citizens were asked about their knowledge and understanding
of economic statistics and whether they trust them. UK was bottom of the EU league table in
2007 and 2010 but has bucked the overall trend and climbed nine or 10 places. UK has gone
up 19 percentage points since 2007 when the EU average is down 11 percentage points.
This could be due to a new stronger governance structure for UK statistics.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - latest
The UN Secretary General adopted Member States’ proposals for 17 goals and 169
targets SDGs at a dedicated General Assembly Summit in September. John Pullinger
spoke at the UK Prime Minister’s side event entitled ‘Leave No One Behind’.
There is a huge publicity campaign spearheaded by filmmaker Richard Curtis (and
supported by a variety of others) to get ‘The Global Goals for Sustainable Development
known, stating “…you can’t fight for your rights if you don’t know what they are. And this
(SDGs) is a sort of statement of planetary rights. And we want people to know what they are
so they can then demand them from their leaders.” See #globalgoals The third GSS
workshop on SDGs took place in October 2015. ONS and DFID communicated the
outcomes of the political process; updated colleagues on the development of global level
indicators; and outlined ONS’s plans for national level reporting.
The UN Statistical Commission’s Inter-Agency Expert Group on SDG Indicators
(IAEG-SDG) has continued to consult on global indicators for universal reporting of SDGs
ahead of its second meeting in Bangkok last month. ONS (representing the GSS)
contributed to these consultations and attended the meeting to ensure UK’s views are
represented. Once the Spending Review outcomes are known, policy departments are
required to submit (via ONS) a one-pager to Cabinet Office detailing their preferred
national indicators for departmental priorities. ONS will consider these one-pagers for
national reporting of SDGs.
For more information please contact: SustainableDevelopment@ons.gsi.gov.uk.

2. 2. Key international committee updates
European Statistical
System
Global Statistical
System
Government Statistical
Service coordination
European Statistical System Committee
(ESSC) – 19 November 2015 - highlights
• Unanimous vote in favour for Implementing the
Regulation defining specifications for the 2017
self-employment module for LFS.
• Agreement of DIGICOM VIP.
• Adoption of Single Integrated Metadata (SIMS)
for European statistics. The SHARE project to
find the technical solution for transmission and
exchange.
• Annual Work Programme was supported, but
many noted its high level of ambition given its
resource constraints. Efficiency gains,
prioritisation, new sources, and new
partnerships are needed. John Pullinger’s
letter to Walter Radermacher on better
prioritisation within Directors’ Groups,
received much support. Eurostat also
attracted to a more concrete ‘find the cuts’
exercise in ESS Directors Groups, as per the
UK intervention.
• Agriculture Statistics – modular approach
strategy supported.
• EU-SILC – support for ESS Agreement.
• IESS draft regulation – general support,
including increased flexibility. Better balance of
use of delegated acts welcomed. Bilats
continue.
• EFC statistical package – noted
• Cooperation with Enlargement countries –
more twinning projects and involvement
needed.
• Catalogue of Statistical Products – will be a
feature of work programmes description, and
should also be used as a reference tool for
prioritisation.
OECD 5th World Forum October 2015:
Transforming policy, changing lives - the forum
looked at how to put measures of progress into
practice for policies aimed at improving lives, presenting
examples of policies that use new well-being measures.
Sessions touched on a number of topics relevant to the
SDGs, including liveable cities, trustworthy institutions,
job quality, mental health, peaceful and cohesive
societies, inequalities and sustainable and inclusive
economic development.
Joseph Stiglitz, American economist and a professor at
Columbia University, gave the Keynote speech, ‘How do
we ensure that prosperity is shared by all’, arguing
that prosperity is more than income and consumption.
Prosperity includes, for example, health, education,
security and opportunity and it has to be sustainable.
Metrics are important to monitor and diagnose what is
happening to well-being in all its dimensions, and how
different groups within society are being affected. Other
speakers included David Lammy MP, Sir Gus O'Donnell,
and National/Chief Statisticians of Mexico, the
Philippines, South Africa, Ecuador, Slovenia, the OECD,
ILO and Eurostat. More information on the forum.
UNECE Conference of European Statisticians
Bureau meeting October 2015 - in-depth reviews
have been completed on strategic partnerships with
stakeholders in the information industry, and on census
methodologies across Europe. Recommendations on
ageing-related statistics were discussed; the UK has
played a key role in drafting these recommendations.
The Bureau also discussed measuring sustainable
development, as well as several other statistical areas on
which work is ongoing.
The UK will prepare a paper on geospatial information
for the next Bureau meeting in February 2016.
GSS International Liaison Officers
Welcome new ILOs: Becky Gillard, WG –
Georgina Easton, DECC – Sharon
Thandi, HSCIC (covering for Robyn Wilson
who is on M/L).
GSS International Committee
GSSIC last met on 13 October 2015 and
discussed:
international updates
(Vision/ESSC/DGINS/ONSIAC/EU
statistics prioritisation/ES Forum);
GSSIC work programme development;
spending review;
global partnerships (World
Forum/SDGs/Worldstat);
capacity building;
international perspective from DfT;
quarterly compliance report.
ONS International Affairs Committee
ONSIAC last met on 20 November 2015. It
focused on a 'deep dive' of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) dossier which
clarified areas of concern about what role
ONS is playing in SDG development;
where OECD/UN fit in; and how ONS is
streamlining with other GSS indicators
work. Glenn Everett, ONS will report back
on developments post March when the
indicators and targets have been agreed by
the UN. The other 'live' dossiers (with RAG
status) were also discussed.
For more information please contact:
international@statistics.gsi.gov.uk

3. 3. GSS International activity – reports from GSS International Liaison Officers (ILOs)
Mark Ellis, HMRC – progressing the
REDESIGN and SIMSTAT projects
HMRC Trade Statistics Unit have been
working with Eurostat to progress both
the REDESIGN and SIMSTAT projects.
These are both options for changing and
modernising the Intrastat system, and
both fall within the overall remit of
FRIBS. This is the cross-EU system
used to collect intra-EU statistics on
international trade in goods. Time has
been tight in light of the need to present
the findings of both projects to ESSC in
May 2016. However, in the last few
weeks, HMRC people have taken part in
• an admin burden seminar and follow-
up questionnaire response;
• a ‘to be’ costings model
questionnaire;
• a SWOT analysis of the relative
strengths and weaknesses of each
option for change;
• a third review of the draft FRIBS legal
text which will overlay whichever
option is chosen.
We are also now preparing to brief our
Minister on the options for change and
the likelihood of each option being
chosen, together with some of the
implementation issues we foresee for
the UK.
Joe Cheung, DWP – good practice workshops
and sharing expertise with INSEE
DWP recently hosted a good practice workshop on
EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU
SILC). Almost 60 representatives from 28 EU
countries, including the UK, attended the workshop,
held at Imperial College London. This was an
opportunity to share experience and good practice
on survey data collection, analysis and reporting, as
well as continuing to build relations with EU survey
experts more generally.
The next good practice workshop is in Paris in
December, and DWP will be presenting on its
recent survey processing review using LEAN Six
Sigma techniques working in collaboration with
ONS.
INSEE (French government analysts) are interested
in the new DWP methodology for estimating take-
up of income-related benefits and the team are
sharing their expertise and knowledge.
Charlotte Gaughan, ILO (Methodology), ONS –
graph databases (sharing expertise)
ONS's Data Linkage Methodology branch hosted a
visit from a member of South Australian -
Northern Territory (SA-NT) DataLink regarding the
use of graph databases in the management of linked
data.
ONS methodology teams have now started
investigating applicability of graph databases to
ONS linked data and are working together on an
exploratory proof of concept project.
Sanjiv Mahajan, ONS (National Accounts) – enhancing
the UK’s international reputation – UK Gross National
Income (GNI)
The GNI Team in ONS submitted the 2015 UK GNI
Questionnaire and Quality Report to Eurostat in time,
on 21 September 2015, achieving a major milestone for
ONS and the UK. The UK was one of four Member
States that did not have to re-submit. The GNI Committee
meeting in Eurostat on 21-22 October 2015 agreed the
UK submission and was attended by Darren Morgan and
Sanjiv Mahajan. This meeting finalised the GNI Opinion
and data on GNI for all Member States to be submitted to
DG BUDGET for the calculations of Member States'
payments to the EU in December 2015.
Separately, the ONS submitted its Excessive Deficit
Procedure (EDP) Return in time for the end-October
2015 deadline. This submission provides details on
general government debt and deficit and required from all
Member States.
The OECD Workshops on Financial Statistics,
National Accounts and the Joint Meeting in Paris, 26-
30 October 2015 was attended by Phillip Lee, Steve Drew
and Sanjiv Mahajan.
The UK provided comments to most of the sessions and
also provided a presentation on the ‘UK experience
implementing SDMX’ by Steve Drew and a Panel
Session paper and presentation on the ‘The SNA
Research Agenda’ by Sanjiv Mahajan.
Sanjiv Mahajan was elected to the OECD Bureau of
National Accounts (the first ever person from the UK
statistical office). The Bureau comprises six international
experts from across the world - USA, Sweden, Mexico,
New Zealand, Korea and the UK.

4. GSS International activity – continued
ONS sharing good practice with Eurostat – it’s good to talk!
In September 2015 the ONS, following a request from Eurostat, the corporate communication and media and public relations teams welcomed Bettina Knauth, Lukasz
Augustyniak and Tim Allen from Eurostat’s communication team. The team wanted to learn how ONS operates its media relations and internal communication.
From an internal communication perspective the group discussed the whole range of ONS’ communication channels and the details of its new business partner model.
We shared our communication channel guide, and the Eurostat team took a copy away with the idea of developing one for themselves. They were particularly
interested in ONS.Talk*, as they don't have a face to face cascade. The Eurostat team also took away several 'past cascades' and some notes on how we conduct our
cascades with the intention of emulating it.
We illustrated how we keep staff informed on a daily basis of organisational and strategic news via ONS.Daily and the leadership team's blogs. They viewed Yammer
with particular interest, debating how they could use similar internal social media to strengthen the Eurostat community.
An hour was also spent with the Web team who gave them a demonstration of the new ONS intranet being developed on word press. They were very impressed at the
pace at which this had been developed by ONS’ in house team, the new look and feel of it and the capability it will offer for two way conversation across the office.
We only had a short time together and did joke that they had interrogated us about everything we do internally. Lukasz and I have each other’s contacts for the future
and I look forward to speaking with him again.
Wendy Cottis MA
Head of Corporate Communication
*ONS.Talk is a monthly round up of key strategic and operational information – it is cascaded face-to-face by ONS Deputy Directors to their teams. Each cascade is tailored to capture
and communicate local updates .
Useful international reference
Eurostat Glossary – Statistics Explained
International Statistical Institute Newsletter News – November 2015
OECD Statistics Newsletters

5. 4. International people
2. High level meetings calendar
Andrea Galic Nagyszombaty, Croatian Bureau of Statistics - talks about her traineeship with Scottish Government
[Andrea Galic Nagyszombaty, is Head of Strategy at the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Andrea has just finished a three month IPA (Eurostat-funded) traineeship with
Scottish Government. IPA is the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance]
On my traineeship in the Scottish Government I have had the opportunity to experience the working environment in the Office of the Chief Statistician and Strategic
Analysis. I worked with senior statisticians in the area of strategic developments and statistics policy, as well as wider activities relating to the whole of the Scottish
Government Statistics Group.
During my specialisation in the UK, I conducted a comparative analysis of the Statistical Systems in Scotland and Croatia regarding legislative frameworks, strategic and
operational issues. There are significant differences between these systems; while the Croatian Statistical System is characterised by centralisation, with the NSI having
the main coordinating role, the Scottish/UK Statistical Systems are highly decentralised with many institutions involved in/responsible for the production and dissemination
of official statistics.
Both centralised and decentralised systems have strengths and weaknesses, but their strategic aims are essentially the same in that they focus on delivering a statistical
system which is capable of producing relevant and high quality official statistical data in the most efficient way, all aligned to user needs.
I’ve also participated in a variety of activities, meetings and seminars, including a visit to the UK Statistics Authority, London office where I share experiences with the
Central Policy Secretariat, the Good Practice Team and the ONS Devolution team.
The three month Eurostat traineeship was an extremely beneficial experience for me.
Forthcoming meetings
Date Title Location UK representatives
9-10 February 2016 UNECE CES Bureau Luxembourg John Pullinger
11 February 2016 ESSC Luxembourg To be decided
8-11 March 2016 UNSC plenary session New York John Pullinger
25-26 April 2016 OECD CSSP plenary session Paris John Pullinger
27-29 April 2016 UNECE plenary session Paris John Pullinger