Stats sense

Posted by Andrew Wadge on April 10th 2008 in Science in Government

It may have passed you by, but in among the nation’s April fools last week came the biggest shake-up in the British statistical system in half a century. The distinctly non-foolish UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) came into existence on 1 April – an independent body, with powers and the obligation to promote, improve, and safeguard official statistics across the UK. UKSA will follow a model close to that of the Food Standards Agency, being run by a multidisciplinary board, independent of Government Ministers.

The first chair of UKSA is Sir Michael Scholar who is President of St John’s College, Oxford University. The aim is to ensure that official statistics are not subject to political influence or manipulation, and the process of gathering data will be fully transparent, thus rebuilding public trust in Government statistics. UKSA has the power to name and shame, with an obligation to assess each Government Department’s statistics regularly, and either to award or deny them National Statistics status.

A new Publication Hub will list each day’s new national statistics releases from all Government Departments as they are published at 9.30am daily, with a link to the relevant page of each Department’s website. The hub will therefore permit direct access to the statistical releases produced by statisticians in Departments, without political commentary. Such a system to safeguard statistical integrity is very welcome. The Agency recognises that high quality statistics are vital for well founded policy-making and decision-making, and for the proper targeting of resources, to ensure a fair society.

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Imported food statistics by food type

Posted by Andrew Wadge on 15/04/2008 - 14:36

Thanks for the post Jessica. Although the Agency does not collect this data, you can visit the HM Revenue and Customs UKTradeInfo website. The site provides trade statistics, including food imports, and allows registered users to search data and create specific tables and charts tailored to their own areas of interest. You can search by food type, country and time period. It's free to register.

Imported food

Posted by Jessica Symons (not verified) on 14/04/2008 - 12:03

I would love to see some stats on the quantities of imported food into the UK broken down by food type but this data does not seem to be easily available - can you help?

Food additives voluntary ban

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on 11/04/2008 - 10:27

Just wanted to say how happy (and surprised) I am that the Food Standards Agency has decided call for a voluntary ban on those six food colourings, despite the lukewarm response to the Southampton study from the EFSA. I should think we'll all cope without tinned strawberries and battenburg cake for a bit. Very nice to see you sticking up for consumers rather than endlessly giving manufacturers the benefit of the doubt - you are my favourite people this morning. xxx

Cross Contamination between Cooked Food and Fresh Produce?

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on 10/04/2008 - 20:15

Hi,as a market trader i sell fresh fruit and veg daily.Just recently the local authority have introduced a number of hot food vendors selling various commodities from curry to chinese etc.Some of these vendors have been allocated sites adjacent to stalls that sell fresh produce.This has created a problem for traders such as myself who find that the smells emanating from the cooked food is tainting some of the produce i have on sale. Such as the leaf varieties of salads,mushroom,soft skinned fruits etc. Some Customers have noticed a distinct smell to these varieties
before cooking. The local council have said there is no threat of cross contamination or any other problem. Would you agree?