New body aims to take spin out of British statistics

By Christina Fincher

LONDON (Reuters) - Sir Michael Scholar, head of Britain's new Statistics Authority, aims to take the politics out of official data and believes this week will mark a turning point.

From April 1, his authority will replace the disbanded Statistics Commission, making the governance of national data independent of ministerial control for the first time.

"From tomorrow, ministers are out of it," Scholar told Reuters. "It should make a great difference to the level of public trust in statistics."

Britons' confidence in official data is at a low ebb. A recent survey by the Office for National Statistics showed only one in five people thought figures were compiled without political interference.

While the old Commission was answerable to the government, the new authority will be answerable only to parliament and will be represented by an all-party select committee.

The Statistics Authority will oversee all 1,300 national statistics, including politically-sensitive figures such as hospital waiting times, immigration flows and unemployment rates.

From Tuesday, these figures will be available on the authority's Web site (www.statistics.gov.uk) in a way, Scholar hopes, that will be accessible and free from political commentary.