The Office for Statistics Regulation wrote to Inas Ahmed about Weekend mortality statistics

9 March 2016 · Email from Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation

The letter is dated 9 March 2016. The Office for Statistics Regulation published it as Weekend mortality statistics. Below are 3 passages from the letter in the regulator's own words.

What the Office for Statistics Regulation wrote

“- the source and methodology of any statistical claim used in public debate should be clear and available equally for all to read and review (equality of access) - public organisations should be careful not to imply causal links between different phenomena where the evidence is unclear or under-developed (causality)”

“On the principle of equality of access, the 6,000 figure was taken from a separate analysis which was initially published as an ad hoc release by the Department of Health in July 2015 following a speech by the Secretary of State for Health in which the previously unpublished figure was used.”

“Shortly after the ad hoc release was published, the Authority wrote to Mark Svenson, the Head of Profession for Statistics at the Department of Health, and encouraged further information to be provided so that users would be able to understand the source of the estimate and how it differs from prior estimates.”

From Email from Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation, letter of 9 March 2016. Read the full letter.

Related key figures

• Deaths registered in England and Wales

Receipt