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Accessibility empathy for users of spreadsheets

The current spreadsheet situation The Government Statistical Service (GSS) and Analysis Function (AF) publish a lot of spreadsheets across the ONS website, GOV.UK and various departmental and devolved government websites. I don’t know the exact figure, but I am going to say it is thousands, if not millions (!) in any given year. At the […]

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New to the game: statistics, methods, research and me

Six months ago I joined the Methodological Research Hub in the Office for National Statistics’ Methodology Division, with a focus on developing methods for producing official statistics using administrative data. Coming from a psychology background, my first few weeks were quite difficult – I felt way behind in my statistical knowledge, and I couldn’t imagine […]

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Fast Stream secondment to Singapore

I’m Olivia and I’m a fourth year Stats Fast Streamer. I’ve just completed my last Fast Stream posting, where I was fortunate enough to be placed in the Department for International Trade (DIT) overseas post in the British High Commission (BHC) in Singapore. Given the challenges of working overseas during the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, my […]

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Data for Better Lives

After eight and a half years as Chief Statistician in the Department for International Development (DFID) and now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO, I will be moving on at the end of July to make way for new people coming through. It has been a period of considerable change, both for the UK […]

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Connecting in an age of disruption

I have been fortunate to attend several large networking events since I joined the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in February 2021; the Methodology division’s online collaboration events, Analysis in Government month and Civil Service Live, to name a few. These events have provided an invaluable insight into the work going on within my division […]

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The User Engagement Strategy for Statistics – our progress since launch!

I joined the project team back in March and I think I can speak on behalf of the team when I say it’s been an exciting time to be working on the User Engagement Strategy and we have been very busy! Don’t forget, we need you to help us promote the strategy at every opportunity. […]

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Secondment at BBC News: Expanding my skill set as a consultant statistician

I read the advert for the Government Statistical Service (GSS) secondment at BBC News in a departmental GSS email and it was the first time I had heard of the opportunity. I recalled attending a talk by Robert Cuffe, Head of Statistics for BBC News, which had been organised by my Head of Profession at […]

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Using data for the public good

Microsoft. Facebook. Google. What do these companies have in common? Yes, they’re vast, powerful, innovative tech companies who define our digital existence. They’re also amongst the biggest recruiters of data scientists in the world. This isn’t an appeal to study the analysis and science of data because it will get you a job at one […]

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Have you got a question about COVID-19?

Have you got a question about coronavirus (COVID-19)? So do we! In fact, we have a number of questions on COVID-19 across a breadth of topics from vaccinations and testing attitudes to social contact and self-isolation behaviours. That’s why we’re excited to launch the COVID-19 Question Bank which will act as a repository of questions […]

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Measuring errors in data

The Methodology Division leads on the development and support of statistical and survey methods for Office for National Statistics (ONS) and provides support for the wider Government Statitisical Service (GSS) and beyond. As Principal Statistical Methodologists we jointly lead on demographic methods for the Census and Population Statistics Hub in Methodology. Our work is varied […]

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