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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.