RSSeNEWS to be determined...

The President of the Royal Statistical Society, Professor David Hand, has written to party leaders stressing that the use of statistics in presenting and making their case to the electorate "must not be at the expense of statistical integrity" and that "all use must be appropriate and accurate".

The text of the letter reads:

The use of official statistics in public debate

The correspondence from Sir Michael Scholar, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, on the subject of violent crime statistics has had wide publicity, as have some of his previous interventions regarding the misuse of official data. The Royal Statistical Society shares Sir Michael's continuing disquiet at the improper use of statistics in public debate.

The Society is particularly concerned at the continuing low level of public trust in official statistics and believes that their inappropriate or inaccurate use can only further corrode this trust. 

The Society welcomed the general support of all parties for the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.  One of the main aims of the Act was to provide a framework within which public trust in official statistics could be rebuilt. The forthcoming general election provides an opportunity to further that aim in public debate. Given that statistics impinge on all aspects of modern life, providing the evidence both for the formulation and evaluation of public policy, by governments, parliamentarians and, above all, citizens, this is an opportunity which should not be missed.

The Royal Statistical Society encourages candidates of all parties, and none, to use statistics in presenting and making their case to the electorate. However, the Society stresses that such use must not be at the expense of statistical integrity – all use must be appropriate and accurate. The UK is recognised as having some of the highest quality official statistics in the world, to standards now captured in the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice published in early 2009. These standards govern both the production of the statistics and the information provided with them, to which all should pay close and careful attention.

We hope that all party leaders will endorse this approach of appropriate and accurate use of official statistics. We ask you to redouble your efforts in ensuring this throughout and beyond your election campaign. The Royal Statistical Society stands ready to offer advice where appropriate and to assist the debate on trust in official statistics. I enclose a copy of our most recently adopted Vision for National Statistics which sets out further areas for development of the official statistical service.

I look forward to your response.

I am sending similar letters to leaders of other parties, and copying the letters to Sir Michael Scholar, and to Jil Matheson, the National Statistician.

• The three main political parties have a chance to outline their policies on 'Improving Trust in Official Statistics' at a meeting on Monday 22 February, organised by the Official Statistics Section and the National Statistics working party.