Survey expert Professor Peter Lynn appeared on BBC Radio 4 programme The Briefing Room this week.
The Briefing Room allows a panel of experts and insiders to present and in-depth explainer on big issues in the news.
The programme discussed concerns over the Office for National Statistics, and the “data crisis” which might mean policy makers cannot trust official economic data.
“Is the UK in a data crisis? As Rachel Reeves approaches a tricky budget, her job has got that much harder. Some of our most fundamental economic data, statistics that policymakers are used to accepting at face value, suddenly have major question marks over their accuracy.
The UK’s top stats agency, the Office for National Statistics, finds itself under considerable pressure as falling response rates to its surveys leave politicians flying blind.
David Aaronovitch asks what this means for government decisions and how the ONS can rebuild confidence in its most vital statistics.
Guests:
Georgina Sturge, research affiliate at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford
Professor Denise Lievesley, former Principal of Green Templeton College, Oxford
Chris Giles, economics commentator at the Financial Times.
Peter Lynn, Professor of Survey Methodology at the University of Essex”
Listen again to the programme here BBC Radio 4 – The Briefing Room – Downloads
Professor Lynn is Director of the ESRC-funded Survey Futures and the Cross National Surveys Unit at ISER. He is Chair of the European Social Survey Sampling and Weighting Panel, and Understanding Society Associate Director for Methodology.