Committee publication · Correspondence · 21 October 2025 · HC 847
Letter from Rt Hon. James Murray MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury on Treasury response to request from the Committee, dated 13.10.25
From: Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Summary
Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray responds to PACAC's September 2025 inquiry about how the Treasury funds UK statistical activity. The Treasury confirms it uses standard departmental funding processes for the UK Statistics Authority and ONS, with decisions made through Spending Reviews and Estimates. Murray outlines Treasury concern about economic statistics quality following the October 2023 Labour Force Survey suspension, leading to increased engagement, ringfencing conditions, and £2–18.6 million in additional support. He declines to release meeting minutes citing inhibition of open policy discussion.
Key findings
- Treasury funding decisions for UKSA/ONS follow standard frameworks (Managing Public Money, Green Book, Treasury Approval Case Guidance), consulted with Cabinet Office as sponsor department, with ministerial sign-off on final settlements.
- ONS budget increased by average 6.5% annual real rate since 2015/16; SR21 included ringfenced funding for Census, Data Collection Transformation Programme, Integrated Data Service, and ARIES; Phase 1 SR25 agreed to reduce ringfence percentage per ONS September 2024 request.
- Treasury became concerned about quality of core economic statistics during SR21 period, particularly after Labour Force Survey suspension October 2023, leading to meetings at ministerial and Permanent Secretary level and provision of £2m ringfence flexibility (2023/24) plus reserve funding of £12.26m (2023/24) and £18.6m (2024/25).
- SR25 Phase 1 and 2 settlement letters established requirement for ONS to jointly agree 'core priority statistics' with Treasury and Cabinet Office, but Treasury emphasised these formed 'a baseline and not a target' and not intended as totality of ONS production.
- Treasury declined to release meeting minutes since 2021 on grounds that disclosure would 'inhibit open and frank discussion in the development of government policy,' instead providing summary narratives and copies of formal Spending Review correspondence.
Government position
Treasury accepts the need for ONS to prioritise outputs and engage with government on resource allocation, particularly on economic statistics quality. Maintains that prioritisation process does not exclude other statistical work and recognises ONS independence. Partially accepts transparency request: provides formal correspondence and meeting summaries but withholds internal meeting minutes on policy development grounds.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
James Murray MP (Chief Secretary to the Treasury), Simon Hoare MP (Chair, PACAC), UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), Office for National Statistics (ONS), Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, Sir David Norgrove (Chair, UKSA), Professor Sir Ian Diamond (National Statistician)
Notable line
“… the Treasury recognises the value of other ONS deliverables, as reflected in successive settlement letters, and recognises the importance of the organisation's independence.”
Key Quotes
“The Treasury makes decisions about the funding allocated to the UKSA and the ONS through the standard process that is applied to all Departments”
“The deterioration in quality of economic statistics had – and continues to have – a significant impact on the Treasury as a user of statistics and on wider policy-making.”
“… to 'provide greater clarity to UKSA on the minimum economic statistics and standards' required during the SR period”
“… this provided 'a baseline and not a target' and therefore was 'not in any way intended to be the totality of what is produced by UKSA during this Spending period.' This was confirmed in …”
“… to do so would inhibit open and frank discussion in the development of government policy”
“Investment in these areas will catalyse the delivery of Statistics for the Public Good 1 , and contribute to government agendas more broadly across Departments, fuelling an ambitious …”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗