Official/National Statistics

Official statistics, as set out in Section 6 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, are statistical outputs which are intended to inform politicians, officials and the wider public about the national position on specific topics on an ongoing basis. Official statistics should be produced in line with the 8 principles and 3 supporting protocols set out in the UK Statistics Authority's Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

The Code will serve to establish common standards and, by doing so, help to ensure a coherent and trustworthy service to the users of statistics.

Official Statistics that comply with the Code are designated as National Statistics. Compliance with the Code is a statutory requirement on bodies that produce statistics that have already been designated as National Statistics

A copy of the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice is available here

For more information on Official Statistics, click here

Compliance of the Code of Practice

DFP Statistical Releases and pre-release recipients (PDF 86KB)
DFP Pre-release Compliance Statement (PDF 30KB)
DFP Statement of Administrative Sources for statistical purposes (Excel 527 KB)
More Information can be found at http://www.nisra.gov.uk/aboutus/default.asp96.htm

Revisions Policies for Population and Vital Statistics

Confidentiality Policy for Population and Vital Statistics

User Engagement

NISRA ran a customer survey in February 2011. Results for customers of demography statistics can be found here

NISRA Demography also maintain contact with users through regular meetings of the Northern Ireland Census Advisory Group (CAG). This group is made up of interested users and specialist advisers drawn from central and local Government, health authorities, and the commercial and academic sectors as well as representatives from specialist agencies, charities and voluntary organisations.
More details are available on request.

UKSA Assessment

An assessment of Northern Ireland Population, Migration and Vital Event statistics was undertaken by the UK Statistics Authority. The Population and Vital statistics were assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The code sets out standards that the UK Statistics Authority expects official statistics to meet. The results of the assessment were published in July 2011. For more information click on the links below.