Office for National Statistics
 |
|
| Non-ministerial government department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 April 1996 |
| Preceding agencies |
|
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Government Buildings, Cardiff Road, Newport NP10 8XG 51°33′58.89″N 3°1′38″W / 51.5663583°N 3.02722°W |
| Employees | 3,302 (including UK Statistics Authority) |
| Annual budget | £206.5 million (2009–2010) (including UK Statistics Authority) |
| Non-ministerial government department executive |
|
| Parent Non-ministerial government department | UK Statistics Authority |
| Website | www |
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
It is charged with the collection and publication of statistics related to the economy, population and society of the UK; responsibility for some areas of statistics in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales is devolved to the devolved governments for those areas. The ONS functions as the executive office of the National Statistician, who is also the UK Statistics Authority's Chief Executive and principal statistical adviser to the UK's National Statistics Institute, and the 'Head Office' of the Government Statistical Service (GSS). Its main office is in Newport near the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office and Tredegar House, but another significant office is in Titchfield in Hampshire, and a small office is in London. ONS co-ordinates data collection with the respective bodies in Northern Ireland and Scotland, namely NISRA and NRS.
The ONS was formed on 1 April 1996 by the merger of the Central Statistical Office (CSO) and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS). Following the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, the United Kingdom Statistics Authority became a non-ministerial department on 1 April 2008.
ONS produces and publishes a wide range of the information about Britain that can be used for social and economic policy-making as well as painting a portrait of the country as its population evolves over time. This is often produced in ways that make comparison with other societies and economies possible. Much of the data on which policy-makers depend is produced by ONS through a combination of a decennial population census, samples and surveys and analysis of data generated by businesses and organisations such as the National Health Service and the register of births, marriages and deaths. Its publications, and analyses by other users based on its published data, are reported and discussed daily in the media as the basis for the public understanding of the country in which they live.
...
Wikipedia