Code of Practice for Statistics – Statements of Compliance

Last updated: 24 September 2026

Introduction

Analysis, Statistics and Research Branch (ASRB) within the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) is responsible for producing and disseminating a range of Official Statistics and Accredited Official Statistics relating to the Department’s travel, transport and planning functions. Statistics and research published by ASRB are available on the DfI website.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing or via the OSR website.

Background

The Code of Practice for Statistics requires all producers of official statistics to ensure that the statistics serve the public good in line with section 10 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The Code is based on the three core principles of:

  • Trustworthiness;
  • Quality; and
  • Value.

The principles form the basis of the ten Standards for Official Statistics which set out specific statistical practices expected of official statistics producers to ensure that official statistics serve the public good. ASRB, as producers of official statistics, must comply with this Code. We do this through our commitment to transparency, coherence, accountability and a public focus.

Under the Trustworthiness principle, Standard 2.5 states:

Publish a statement of compliance outlining how the statistics are produced in line with the core principles of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value


These short statements of compliance demonstrate how ASRB is committed to following the Code’s principles and standards.

Trustworthiness

Building confidence in the people and organisations that produce statistics and data

1. Show integrity

ASRB statisticians are employed by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agencey (NISRA) and are based in DfI. While statisticians work to support and provide evidence for DfI operational and policy decision-makers, the statistics will be presented objectively and free from political/commercial or other influences. Our statistics will be published in line with the DfI statement of compliance with the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order. In accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, ASRB publish a timetable of upcoming statistical releases for twelve months ahead and the exact date at least four weeks prior to the release date. The date and time of publications is also announced on the GOV.UK research and statistics release calendar.

2. Lead responsibly

The team of statisticians in ASRB are led by two experienced and impartial Principal Statisticians with professional oversight from a NISRA Grade 5 Statistician (currently the Director of Economic Statistics). All staff have attended training on the refreshed Code of Practice (Edition 3.0) and have strong professional and analytical skills. ASRB has an ongoing Customer Feedback Survey and will listen to the views and input from all interested stakeholders.

3. Be transparent

Access to statistics before their public release is limited to those involved in the production of the statistics, Minister, Permanent Secretary and a minimum number of relevant briefing officials. A list of DfI statistical releases to which 24 hour pre-release access has been granted and the job holders who have pre-release access is accurately maintained and published on the DfI website. Through the publication of the User Engagement Strategy, ASRB is committed to being transparent about its approach to public engagement with users, potential users and other stakeholders. Detailed User information is available on the DfI website. The ASRB work programme is agreed by senior management within DfI and the business plan for 2026/27 is now published. ASRB develop the work programme following feedback from customer surveys and stakeholder engagement.

4. Manage data responsibly

All statutory obligations governing the collection of data, confidentiality, data sharing, data linking and release are followed by ASRB. ASRB’s Data Governance and Confidentiality Statement is available on the DfI website.

Quality

Data and methods that produce assured statistics

5. Prioritise quality

ASRB is committed to working to ensure that statistics are produced to a level of quality that meets users’ needs. All statistics published by ASRB have an associated ‘Quality’ section within the statistical bulletin or are published alongside a ‘Background Quality Report’ (or similar guidance document) and/or where relevant a ‘Quality of Administrative Data’ paper. DfI ASRB has published its Quality Management Approach which outlines our key objectives for quality management.

6. Be rigorous

The quality of the data and statistics published will be continually monitored to ensure they remain suitable and appropriate. Quality reports and documents will be routinely reviewed and updated to inform users and communicate any information users need to know so that the statistics are understood and used appropriately. Engagement will be ongoing with data suppliers so that our data supply and quality requirements can be met.

7. Be open about quality

ASRB will be open about quality by reporting on the quality of the data and statistics and by publishing information around the methodology used to produce statistics. Many reports will include a ‘User Information’ section which will contain key information users needs to know e.g. the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The strengths and limitations of administrative data used in the development of statistics will be outlined in the QAAD reports. Statistics based on survey data will include a section on sampling errors and/or confidence intervals. Any scheduled revisions or unscheduled corrections will be explained in line with the ASRB Revisions and Errors policy.

Value

Statistics that support society’s needs for information

8. Be relevant

ASRB is committed to complying with the ‘Value’ principle. Through our User Engagement Strategy, ASRB seeks to ensure that our statistics and data are useful, easy to access, remain relevant and support understanding of important issues.

9. Be clear

The key statistics we publish will be accompanied by statistical commentary and data visualisations to aid with interpretation of the statistics. Many reports will be published alongside an infographic and/or a dashboard and all include contact details of the responsible statistician if any queries arise. Statisticians can also be contacted by emailing .

10. Be accessible

All statistical publications will continue to be available free of charge from the DfI website. For additional information or customer support users can easily contact ASRB. Key statistics will be published in both Excel and Open Document Spreadsheets and a range of statistics will be published on the NISRA Dataportal. Several key reports are published in HTML and overtime ASRB will aim to increase the number of reports being published in HTML rather than pdf.

Conclusion

These short statements of compliance with the three core principles of the Code (Trustworthiness, Quality and Value) and the ten underlying standards aim to demonstrate how ASRB, as a statistical producer, complies with the Code. These statements are supported by the following statements/policies:


Contact Details

For further information contact Regina McGeown or Martin Devlin
Principal Statisticians ASRB