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FOREWORD BY THE CHIEF STATISTICIAN
Statistics impact on everybody's lives. They underpin government decisions on, and our understanding of, the economy and the society we live in.
Since devolution the statistical service in Scotland has advanced, especially in terms of the relevance of the statistics we produce and how people all over the world can access those statistics. However, we are committed to continuous improvement and Statistics Reform is our programme to enhance our services further, alongside tackling the issue of public confidence in our work.
A significant part of the Reform programme is about promotion of the professional independence of statisticians. I very much welcome the close scrutiny of the new UK Statistics Authority as a key step to raising awareness of the high professional integrity that currently exists in the production and publication of statistics. I welcome also the role that the Authority will play in helping us to improve the quality of our statistics, in line with international best practice. We are committed to international best practice for statistics but this has to be appropriate for government departments.
It is equally important that we take action to ensure that our statistics are used effectively. Decisions made at all levels of government have a huge impact on Scotland and involve allocation of large sums of public money. It is crucial that such decisions are informed by the right statistics at the right time. So we have to get the right balance between what's needed to ensure public trust and ensuring that statisticians play an effective role within government to support informed decision making.
This report pulls together the opinions of a wide range of organisations and individuals. I would especially like to thank those who responded to consultation paper "Improving Statistical Services in Scotland" and those who attended the first Annual Statistics Stakeholder Conference in October 2007. We have very much depended on the feedback from these activities to develop the Statistics Reform programme.
Rob Wishart
Chief Statistician in the Scottish Government
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