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One of the oldest government civil servants has been tasked with reaching problems with data produced by the Office for National Statistics, as concern increases in Westminster about the reliability of the numbers used to direct the United Kingdom economy.
Pat McFadden, the cabinet office minister, has asked his senior official cats to look at the Etes performance between Chancellor Rachel Reeves has remained blind while flying her plans for the economy.
“Pat thinks it’s a noticeable problem,” said a minister’s colleague. “He has raised him with the permanent secretary (little) and said that it is important that we have data on which we can rely.”
Few and her colleagues have been asked to offer opportunities for possible government actions after a series of discoveries about mistakes in official economic indicators, according to people with knowledge of its conference. Among the ideas on the board is an independent summary, although no decisions have been made.
Last week, Dame Meg Hillier, chairman of the influential Committee of the Treasury Choosing, wrote Sir Ian Diamond, the national statist, to highlight “mistakes and disturbing delays” in some groups of statistics.
One Reeves’ ally said: “There is a disappointment that we are making economic decisions when the data is wrong. It is a little problem, let’s say gentle.”
The ounce has been caught up in issues with some of the most sensitive data on the market it produces, which is making it more difficult for the UK policymakers to run the economy. The concern has focused on the breakdown of the main labor force survey, which supports the job data, but the Inel has found problems in other parts of its production.
Data Cruncher has suspended the publication of two pricing indices of manufacturers that assist in the calculation of GDP, and has been criticized for “Economic Economic Reasoning” by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on how it reassessed pension property.
The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee this month underlined the need for “high quality and reliable official data throughout the full range of economic and labor market statistics”, as Governor Andrew Bailey surprised the quality of job numbers.
The Statistical Regulation Office, a wing of the United Kingdom Statistics Authority, which oversees the country’s statistical system, is planning to publish a temporary report in April for a systemic summary of economic statistics that began last year.
An official close to McFadden said he was concerned about Inel issues. “Essential is essential to have reliable data and Once is vital for this,” the source said.
In her letter, Hillier told the chief of statistics that she was “concerned about the impact of unreliable labor market statistics and if there are problems with other economic data”.
She added: “The latest disturbing errors and delays in trade data and manufacturer’s price index data will expand concerns about the reliability and accuracy of economic statistics available to policymakers and other users.”
Hillier demanded an update on the nature and causes of errors identified in manufacturer’s price numbers, as well as the EBS response to criticism from IF numbers.
She also asked for more information about trade data problems after the Etes on March 13 marked an error in the numbers dating from 2023.
On Friday, the Inel issued updates in its trading data after examining this problem. Among the issues were the errors in the data provided by HM income and customs related to imports of goods, and an error in system processing services numbers, said Ons.
However, reviews in trade numbers for 2023 and 2024 did not affect the broader data of GDP.
The cabinet office refused to comment. Ines said to FT “remains focused on producing the highest quality statistics for the public good and is committed to continuous improvement of our methods and approaches”.
