Government Statistical Service newsletter - April 2021
Welcome to the latest round-up of news and information relevant to all members of the Government Statistical Service (GSS). This month's newsletter has been curated by Ami.
As always, we welcome any feedback sent to gssnet@statistics.gov.uk.
News
New analytical training courses available
Packaging and documentation, Continuous integration and Communicating quality, uncertainty and change analytical training courses are now available and hosted on the UKSA Learning Hub.
Submit a publication for a peer review
The Best Practice and Impact division have been running monthly peer reviews of statistical publications, working with colleagues from across the GSS to review a publication and provide feedback. If you have a publication you would like to submit please email goodpracticeteam@statistics.gov.uk.
The Award for Statistical Excellence in Trustworthiness, Quality and Value (formerly the ‘Voluntary Application Award’) was established in 2020, in partnership with the Royal Statistical Society, Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and Civil Service World. This award recognises excellence in the voluntary application of the 'pillars' of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value (TQV) that stand at the heart of OSR’s Code of Practice for Statistics.
The deadline for entries is 30 April 2021.
It has been six weeks since the launch of the UK Statistics Authority’s Centre for Applied Data Ethics and the Centre Team have been busy developing their various plans and outputs. A summary of some of the Centre activities and future plans can be found on the UKSA website, which includes:
- the recent landscape review on applied data ethics guidance
- work on machine learning
- plans for guidance related to ethical consideration in the use of geospatial data for research and statistics
Improving statistics in Namibia
A new partnership has been officially launched between the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Namibia Statistics Agency as the Deputy High Commissioner of Namibia, Charlotte Fenton and Namibia’s Statistician-General, Alex Shimuafeni signed a memorandum of understanding.This is the ONS’s fifth official peer-to-peer partnership in Africa following work in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda and with the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
For more information email international.development@ons.gov.uk
Government Analysis Function newsletter
Don't forget to sign up for the Government Analysis Function newsletter to see what is going on across other professions.
Email analysis.function@ons.gov.uk to sign up.
Blogs
Charlie Wroth-Smith blogs about the aims and current projects of the Administrative Data Methods Research Programme, led by the Methodology Division at the Office for National Statistics.
Michelle Bowen and Claire Pini from Best Practice and Impact division discuss adapting the Government Statistician Group induction to suit virtual delivery, ensuring collaboration was at the heart of the refreshed course.
Scott Heald from Public Health Scotland discusses implementing Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP), the benefits, lessons learnt and the importance of listening to the enthusiasts in your department.
Danielle Cornish from the Office for National Statistics discusses her three month secondment to the BBC including star spotting, morning huddles and streamlining stories.
Events
This series of events aims to showcase data science projects in the public sector and support colleagues with their career journeys:
- Let’s Multiply – International Day of Women and Girls in ICT - 21 April 2021
- Pivoting to data science - 27 April 2021
- Always Learning and Tips from HR - 28 April 2021
Join us throughout May for the first Analysis in Government Month, where we bring together people from across the Government Analysis Function to celebrate the importance of analytical work.
Date: 4 to 27 May
New guidance and publications
- The Office for Statistics Regulation has published a review endorsing RAP.
- Best Practice and Impact division has published.Top tips for communicating the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) to consider if your statistical outputs have been affected by the pandemic.
Jobs
And finally...
If you subscribed to the newsletter last year you might have read all about my garden updates (and disasters). I've spent the last few weeks sewing seeds and readying the garden for spring and I'm hoping this year I get to eat some of my own produce. After the greenhouse blew over and killed all my plants last year I've made sure it's firmly anchored down this year!
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