The chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, Bernard Jenkin MP, has hit out at the government for rejecting his committee’s findings on ministers’ and civil servants’ use of statistics.
In its February report ‘Public Trust in Government Statistics’, PASC said that allowing ministers and officials to see statistics before publication presents “a risk to public confidence in the independence of the statistical system”. PASC urged government to introduce legislation “at the earliest opportunity” to put tighter controls on pre-release access.
However, the government has said that pre-release access to statistics will remain unchanged, prompting Jenkin to accuse it of “offhandedly” rejecting his committee’s “important and central recommendation” and repeat his call for tighter legislation.