Government Statistical Service
All statistics branches in the Executive are part of the
Government Statistical Service (GSS) which comprises the
statistics divisions of all major departments in the UK,
Scotland and Wales plus the
Office for
National Statistics, which has a co-ordinating
role.
The GSS with over 1000 professional statisticians in
more than 30 departments is the greatest concentration of
statistical expertise, and by far the largest provider of
statistics, in the UK.
The GSS exists to provide the UK Government, parliaments
and assemblies, devolved administrations, and the wider
community with statistical information and analysis.
The advice is used to improve decision making, stimulate
research, and inform debate. Some of the information is
used for business management and marketing purposes, and
social statistics are used by businesses, local
authorities, universities and schools.
Statistical information on a wide variety of subjects is
published regularly in bulletin and other forms, and on
various websites.
Statistics Planning
National Statistics arrangements require the production of a statistics plan and annual report on performance. The publications should provide the basis for discussion on developments in statistics for the coming year, and progress against the previous years plan. Details can be found in the Statistics Plan Overview 2004/05, Annual Report 2005 and the Office of the Chief Statistician Business Plan 2006/07.
Statistics staffing
There are 96 staff in the Executive's Statistics Group
who generally work in small teams located with policy
staff, rather than in a centralised unit, and a further 13
statisticians in the
General
Register Office for Scotland.
In some subject areas, e.g. education and crime, the
Executive collects Scottish statistics directly from
information providers such as local authorities or uses
information derived from local administrative systems.
In other areas, it depends on data which is collected on
a UK basis by UK Departments such as the
Office for
National Statistics and the
Department for
Work and Pensions.
Liaison arrangements with these departments are set out
in the
The Memorandum of
Understanding and the Concordat on Statistics laid
before the Scottish Parliament in January 2002.