Accredited official statistics status of port freight statistics
Updated 11 December 2019
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Accredited official statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value, and it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.
The continued designation of the port freight statistics as accredited official statistics was confirmed in December 2018 following a compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation. The statistics last underwent a full assessment against the Code of Practice for Statistics in February 2013.
Changes to these statistics
Since the latest review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, we have continued to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics, and have:
- combined the Department for Transport’s Port and Domestic Waterborne Freight outputs to improve the overall coherence of maritime freight statistics
- used data science techniques to validate and further develop vessel arrivals statistics
- launched a new web-based data submission tool in spring 2019, with benefits foreseen for freight data quality, reduced supplier burden and timeliness of outputs
- published a new standalone quality report setting out the quality assurance processes undertaken and providing an accessible summary of the statistics main strengths and limitations and recent user engagement
- published table PORT0503 in the quarterly port freight series to address feedback. This table is badged as official statistics in development - formerly known as experimental statistics - and not badged as accredited official statistics, like the rest of the port freight series