Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what requirements are in place for (a) the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and (b) other government agencies to collect data on a regional basis; and what discussions he has had with the ONS to collect the provision of regional data.

As was the case under previous administrations details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.

The UK Statistics Authority’s strategy, Better Statistics Better Decisions, recognises the need for statistics to keep pace with a fast-changing world, including in the context of an increased emphasis on the devolution of decision-making powers to the nations, regions and cities of the UK.

A list of regional statistics which the UK is required to provide under European Regulations, including the level of breakdown, is available online at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/140934/4381644/Regional_statistics_overview.xls.

While the Regulations require that any data used to produce these statistics be of sufficient quality, the regulations do not specify how data is obtained; this is a matter left to Member States to decide. Beyond those statistics included on this list, official statistics are broken down at different geographies, depending on needs and available data.