Statement of voluntary compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics for FCDO humanitarian and social protection results
Published 16 October 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-humanitarian-and-social-protection-results-april-2022-to-march-2023/statement-of-voluntary-compliance-with-the-code-of-practice-for-statistics-for-fcdo-humanitarian-and-social-protection-results
The Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) published estimates of the number of people reached with food aid, cash and voucher transfers through bilateral humanitarian and social protection Official Development Assistance (ODA) support.
Although the results estimates are not National Statistics, where possible FCDO follows the UK’s Code of Practice for Statistics in their production. This page explains how these pillars have been applied to FCDO’s humanitarian and social protection results estimates in a proportionate way to demonstrate voluntary compliance, in line with the Guide for Voluntary Application of the Code.
FCDO’s voluntary compliance with the pillars of the Code of Practice for Statistics
Trustworthiness
Confidence in the people and organisations that produce statistics and data.
FCDO’s humanitarian and social protection results estimates are overseen by statistics advisers embedded in FCDO departments who are members of the Government Statistical Service (GSS). They have a professional line of accountability to FCDO’s Chief Statistician who has a professional line of accountability to the National Statistician.
Access to the statistics during the collection, quality assurance and production of these statistics was kept to a minimum within the FCDO, to provide as much equal access to both government and external users.
The factsheet has been drafted by GSS members and presents an impartial narrative.
Quality
Data and methods that produce assured statistics.
Information on FCDO’s humanitarian and social protection results are collected from FCDO Posts and central FCDO departments. The data is collected from a variety of source but most results originate from delivery partners’ reporting or management information systems, which are generally accurate and timely.
Given the range of data sources used, the accuracy of the results data varies and is subject to the quality of the underlying data source. In many cases FCDO uses data collected by others (for example, partner country governments or international organisations) and therefore FCDO has limited control over the quality of the data. Verifying the quality of the data provided by partners can be challenging in the places where FCDO works.
Due to humanitarian and social protection support being delivered in very challenging contexts – often in conflict zones or after natural disasters – it is not always possible to collect, or quality assure all disaggregated data to sufficient standards. However, FCDO is working with partners and on internal data systems with a view to improve availability of disaggregated data over time.
FCDO’s Humanitarian and Social Protection results estimates are produced in line with published methodology notes (in the factsheet) which set out the rules under which results can be counted.
Statistics Advisers in FCDO undertake quality assurance of the results data to minimise error. The types of error which FCDO aims to minimise include:
- double counting: identifying unique beneficiaries and avoiding duplication in reporting between partners, programmes, FCDO departments, and across years
- FCDO attribution: accurately associating results with FCDO interventions or funding
- counting non-related activities: ensuring results are for qualifying activities only, as specified in the methodology note
The strengths and limitations of the Humanitarian and Social Protection result are published as part of the factsheet.
Value
Statistics that support society’s needs for information.
FCDO’s headline Humanitarian and Social Protection result is designed to give a snapshot of the reach of FCDO’s Humanitarian and Social Protection assistance. The result is an indication of reach but not the complete picture. Due to the inherent challenging operating context, it is likely that these are underestimates. Despite this they give valuable insight to what is delivered through the FCDO humanitarian assistance.
The result is broken down by country post, fragility and gender to help the user understand the spread of people reached. Alongside the publication of the data, there is a factsheet that presents the headline figures with clear narrative and charts to help the user understand the data is a visual and accessible way.
Accompanying this results publication is a 3-page summary document, which includes notes on strengths and limitations of the data, further supporting the public’s accurate interpretation of these provisional results.
In future versions of this publication, we aim to bring in other sources for context such as the UN Office Co-ordination Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) appeals information which shows how many people reached by the global humanitarian system.