Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to regulate the cost of Office for National Statistics surveys.

The Office of National Statistics is part of the UK Statistics Authority, a Non Ministerial Department which is directly accountable to the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly. Its budget is awarded directly from HM Treasury.

As per the Code of Practice for Statistics (including as referenced in the Ministerial Code), the UN’s Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and the broader Nolan principles of propriety in public life, Ministers have no role in the decision making of the Authority Board or day-to-day management decisions of the Office of National Statistics.