Written question asked by Lord Maude of Horsham (Conservative) on Friday, 19 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 February 2010. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon (Labour) on Thursday, 8 April 2010 on behalf of the Cabinet Office.

Statistics

Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what research has been undertaken into the levels of public confidence in Government statistics in the last 10 years.

Answer: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.Letter from Sir Michael Scholar KCB, dated April 2010:"As Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what research has been undertaken into the levels of public confidence in Government statistics in the last 10 years [318124].""There have been three surveys of public confidence in official statistics undertaken in the last ten years, in 2004, 2005 and 2007. Detailed analyses of the results of these surveys are available at the following links:""2004 survey:""http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/public_confidence/downloads/BritishOfficialStat.pdf""2005 survey:""http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/public_confidence/downloads/OmnibusMarch05.pdf""2007 survey:""http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/public_confidence/downloads/pcos_2007.pdf""Additional information about public confidence in official statistics and the surveys is available at the following link:""http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=13967""The UK Statistics Authority expects to publish the results of an updated survey of public confidence in official statistics, and related analysis, later this year."

Secondary information