Useful information for Heads of Profession (HoPs)
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Each government department that produces official statistics has a statistical Head of Profession (HoP) who leads and manages statistical activities. The HoPs are accountable to their departmental management for day to day delivery, but also have a professional accountability to the National Statistician. On this page we bring together useful information for the HoPs.
The following provide support for statistics Heads of Profession:
Best Practice and Impact Division
Best Practice and Impact division supports everyone in the GSS to improve government statistics. Get in touch by emailing: GSSHelp@statistics.gov.uk.
Central Policy Secretariat
Central Policy Secretariat (CPS) supports the HoPs network in a number of different ways, including organising meetings and sending out the weekly HoPs email. Get in touch by emailing: GSS@statistics.gov.uk.
The National Statistician and the Deputy National Statisticians
Find out more about the National Statistician and the deputies. Get in touch by emailing: National.Statistician@statistics.gov.uk.
GSS recruitment team
Find out more about the GSS recruitment team. Get in touch by emailing: GSS.Recruitment@ons.gov.uk.
GSS careers team
Find out more about the GSS careers team. Get in touch by emailing: GSS.Careers@ons.gov.uk.
GSS capability
Find out more about the GSS capability team. Get in touch by emailing: GSS.Capability@statistics.gov.uk
Other HoPs
You can contact other statistics HoPs through Central Policy Secretariat or via the HoPs channel on GSS Slack. These links will only work if you have a Slack account and are logged in. You will also need to be added to the HoPs channel to see the content there. Please email gsshelp@statistics.gov.uk if you need access.
HoPs from other departments can be contacted through the Central Policy Secretariat (email: GSS@statistics.gov.uk) or via the HoPs channel on the GSS workspace on Slack. These links will only work if you have a Slack account and are logged in. You will also need to be added to the HoPs channel.
- GSS workspace on Slack
- GSS website
- Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) website
- GSS newsletter
- OSR newsletter
- The Analysis Function newsletter (contact Analysis.Function@ons.gov.uk )
- Weekly HoPs e-mail (this is sent out by the Central Policy Secretariat: GSS@statistics.gov.uk)
Governance and boards
Find out more about GSS governance and high level boards.
Committees and groups
- Heads of Profession Group
- People Committee
- Inter Administration Committee (IAC)
- International Committee
Useful links
Recruitment campaign dates
Recruitment campaigns for Statistical Officers, Higher Statistical Officers and Senior Statistical Officers
Campaign Number | Opening Date | Closing Date | Sifting | Interviews Scheduled | Allocations Completed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 March 2022 | 19 March 2022 | 4 April and 11 April 2022 | 18 April and 25 April 2022 | 9 May 2022 |
2 | 4 April 2022 | 10 May 2022 | 16 May and 23 May 2022 | 6 June and 13 June 2022 | 27 June 2022 |
3 | 23 May 2022 | 21 June 2022 | 27 June and 4 July 2022 | 11 July and 18 July 2022 | 1 August 2022 |
4 | 4 July 2022 | 16 August 2022 | 22 August and 29 August 2022 | 5 September and 12 September 2022 | 26 September 2022 |
5 | 22 August 2022 | 20 September 2022 | 26 September and 3 October 2022 | 10 October and 17 October 2022 | 31 October 2022 |
6 | 3 October 2022 | 8 November 2022 | 14 November and 21 November 2022 | 28 November and 5 December 2022 | 17 December 2022 |
7 | 21 November 2022 | 10 January 2023 | 16 January and 23 January 2023 | 30 January and 6 February 2023 | 20 February 2023 |
8 | 16 January 2023 | 14 February 2023 | 20 February and 27 February 2023 | 6 March and 13 March 2023 | 27 March 2023 |
Questions about recruitment
Contact the recruitment team (GSS.Recruitment@ons.gov.uk) if you have a query relating to:
- permanent and temporary recruitment
- badging exercises
- sandwich students
- summer placements
- GSS assessor training
- careers fairs
- GSS Fast Stream recruitment
Useful links
- The policy on badging statisticians
- GSG competency framework
- The GSG Career Framework with information on how to help people use it
- The policy for recruiting a statistical Head of Profession
Questions about careers
Contact the careers team (GSS.Careers@ons.gov.uk) if you have a query relating to:
- GSS professional standards
- Government Statistician Group (GSG) competency framework
- badging policy
- careers and talent pipelines (including GSS apprenticeships)
- GSS Fast Stream scheme and policies
- GSS student roles
- The Code of Practice for Statistics
- Reporting breaches of the code
- Labelling official statistics
- Publishing official and national statistics
- Publishing experimental statistics
- Changing or ceasing to publish official statistics
- Publishing official statistics on polling days
- Management information and official statistics
- Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
- The CPD policy for the Government Statistician Group (GSG)
All these and more can be found on the GSS policy and guidance hub.
Any questions on learning and development? Email: GSS.Capability@statistics.gov.uk
Data leaders network
Find out about the data leaders network on GOV.UK
Champion networks
- Presentation
- Quality
- Harmonisation
- Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP)
- Web dissemination
- Geography
Champion networks landing page.
The Analysis Function: Frequently Asked Questions
Information about the Analysis Function on the GOV.UK website.
The GSS, government professions and the Analysis Function.
Details about governance, committees, boards and groups relevant to the Analysis Function can be found in the Analysis Function Strategy on pages 17 and 18.
All producers of official statistics have a responsibility to work closely with the devolved administrations.
Read more about devolution and the GSS.
The Office for National Statistics’ Data Science Campus supports the growth of data science skills and data transformation programme across the analytical community.
Find out more about the Data Science Campus.
The Office for Statistics Regulation is the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority. It aims to enhance public confidence in the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics produced by government. It does this using four main tools:
- assessment – assessing statistics against the Code of Practice for Statistics and designating them as National Statistics if they comply in full
- compliance checks – providing a high-level review of the statistics
- systemic Reviews – on issues and opportunities that cut across the statistical system
- casework – making public comment on the uses of official statistics
The OSR ogranise their work around subject themes. This has enabled them to develop wider networks of external contacts and topic expertise. As part of this approach, their regulators will seek to maintain regular contact with all HoPs. The OSR team page gives the names and contact information and their subject themes.
If you have any feedback on the content of this page please email GSSNet@statistics.gov.uk