HMRC statistics quality improvement plans, April 2021 to April 2022
Updated 9 May 2022
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This note sets out the improvements we plan to make from April 2021 to April 22 to the quality of HMRC’s statistics. The improvements are part of a longer programme of work to implement recommendations from the Office for Statistics Regulation’s review of HMRC’s official statistics, Strengthening the quality of HMRC’s official statistics.
There are 4 main areas of work
- reducing statistics publication outputs
- documenting how statistics are produced, from data collection to publication
- streamlining and standardising statistics production processes
- making information on the quality of statistics more readily available
1. Reducing statistics publication outputs
We will amend some 20 of HMRC’s official statistics publications, to reduce their content, or frequency or (for a few of our publications) drop them altogether. These changes are described in detail in the written response to the statistics consultation carried out in early 2021.
2. Documenting how statistics are produced
We will be improving the documentation of the production process of most of our statistics publications this year, from data collection to publication. This will be a high-level mapping exercise to identify the key stages in the production process and to document key components of what is done at each stage. This will help us to identify the riskiest aspects of the production process, which in turn will inform where we should target future mapping activities or other actions to minimise the risk of errors or misinterpretation in the production process.
3. Streamlining and standardising statistics production
We expect that one of the benefits of the documentation process will be to highlight where it would be beneficial to streamline or standardise the methods or tools used to produce statistics. In taking forward such improvement projects we will use a range of modern statistical tools and software development good practice to carry out all the steps of statistical production, from input data to the final output, in a way that is sustainable and transparent and that fosters robust quality assurance processes. In taking forward these projects we will draw on principles outlined in the Office for Statistics Regulation’s recent report on reproducible analytical pipelines.
4. Improving availability of quality information
We will make statistics quality reports easier to find on our statistics website and will make it easier for users to find updates regarding issues with our statistics. The actions planned may uncover mistakes in statistics production, for example in interpretation of data. We will keep users informed of any revisions to statistics, should the need to revise arise, in line with HMRC’s policy on revisions to statistics.