The Office for Statistics Regulation wrote to Alastair McAlpine about 2020 Scottish Household Survey

1 July 2022 · Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation, Office for Statistics Regulation

The letter is dated 1 July 2022. The Office for Statistics Regulation published it as Ed Humpherson to Alastair McAlpine: 2020 Scottish Household Survey; it links to 1 official record. Below are 4 passages from the letter in the regulator's own words.

What the Office for Statistics Regulation wrote

“Following the decision to switch from face-to-face interviewing to carrying out telephone interviews, Roger Halliday approached the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in January 2022 to provide assurance that the 2020 Scottish Household Survey should be published as experimental statistics and to ask if we could carry out a short review of the statistics.”

“The focus of this review was primarily on the quality of the statistics given the change in mode, but we also considered the trustworthiness and value of the statistics in the Scottish Household Survey more generally.”

“The team used these conversations to help make its decision to publish the data as experimental statistics, leaving out comparisons from previous years.”

“We found the publication was very clear in the limitations of the statistics and why they were unable to be compared with those from previous years, as well as providing expert users with a very comprehensive methodology and impact of change in mode document.”

From Ed Humpherson, Director General for Regulation, Office for Statistics Regulation, letter of 1 July 2022. Read the full letter.

Records the letter links to

• methodology and impact of change in mode document

Receipt