The Cabinet Office and UK Statistics Authority have announced an independent review of the Office for National Statistics' performance and culture.
The short review, which will be led by former permanent secretary Sir Robert Devereux, begins this week and is expected to conclude in early summer.
It will assess the ONS's effectiveness in delivering its core statistics and major programmes; evaluate its organisational culture, structure and leadership; and assess the effectiveness of its sponsorship relationships with the Cabinet Office and Treasury.
The ONS has come in for criticism over worsening response rates to the Labour Force Survey.
Its staff have also been recently labelled “partisan” in an independent report commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – criticism that the ONS has rejected.
Cat Little, the civil service chief operating officer and permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, said: “Data and statistics are integral to decision making and the delivery of public services. I’m keen that this review supports the ONS in its unique role of producing official statistics.”
Sir Robert Chote, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, said the review is “an opportunity to help ensure that the ONS can deliver of its best in what is a challenging external environment”.
Devereaux was perm sec at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2011 to 2018 and, before that, perm sec at the Department for Transport from 2007 to 2011.
Chote said he is “very grateful” to Devereaux for agreeing to lead the review, which he said will draw on the views of external stakeholders and ONS colleagues about what works well and what could be improved.
An ONS spokesperson said: “We look forward to engaging with Sir Robert Devereux on his review. Later this week we will publish a new strategic business plan for the ONS, setting out how key statistics and services will be prioritised over the year ahead.”