In a video tweeted on Tuesday, Julie Stanborough, ONS Deputy Director for Data & Analysis for Social Care & Health, explained their side of the story. It’s worth noting that previously, from April 2020 to April 2021, Stanborough was the Deputy Director of the Covid-19 Press Data Team at the Cabinet Office. Before that, she worked as a statistician for HM Revenue & Customs and Department for Work and Pensions.
“We’ve been working with independent experts and those across government and the devolved nations to develop a common UK-wide approach,” she said.
She noted that the new method is “in development” and will change when and as required, which perhaps allows for confusion and no meaningful comparison to previous periods. It would also provide a useful way to explain away any future excess deaths that they don’t want to be publicly known or independently investigated.
According to the Office for Statistics Regulation, the label of “official statistics in development” can be replaced by the label of “official statistics” once the evaluation has been completed. The producer should have decided that the statistics are suitable and of public value and explained their strengths and limitations. The producer may wish for the statistics to become accredited official statistics to demonstrate their compliance against the Code of Practice for Statistics.
So, what has been the effect of ONS’ new “official statistics in development” data? They have managed to hide a large portion of excess deaths....<<<Read More>>>...