Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the suitability of successive Senior Responsible Owners of the Integrated Data Programme having been appointed for 35 per cent and 50 per cent of their time, given its whole life cost of £525 million and "red" delivery confidence assessment rating; and what evidence they hold to show that this approach is appropriate for projects of this scale and complexity.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Lord Agnew of Oulton DL

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

1 April 2025

Dear Lord Agnew,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your following Parliamentary Questions:

• To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made, based on the latest approved business case, of the average cost per user of the Integrated Data Service, including a breakdown of how this cost is calculated (HL6020).

• To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the suitability of successive Senior Responsible Owners of the Integrated Data Programme having been appointed for 35 per cent and 50 per cent of their time, given its whole life cost of £525 million and "red" delivery confidence assessment rating; and what evidence they hold to show that this approach is appropriate for projects of this scale and complexity. (HL6094).

• To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether to continue to fund the Integrated Data Programme at its whole life cost of £525 million, given its "red" delivery confidence assessment rating and the 26 per cent reduction in forecast monetised benefits between 2022–23 and 2023–24 (HL6095).

• To ask His Majesty's Government how many times the Office for National Statistics’ Integrated Data Service has undergone an accreditation assessment or audit under the Digital Economy Act 2017 since 2020, and what the results of such assessments or audits have been (HL6096).

The Integrated Data Programme (IDP) Business Case is being reviewed as part of Spending Review 2025. From when the Integrated Data Service (IDS) is fully operational, the current estimate of the average gross cost per user accessing the IDS is approximately £4,645 per year over the financial years 2026/2027 to 2028/2029. This cost is calculated by including the service support costs for users, the IT licensing and usage costs, and the platform operational management costs.

The current Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) has dedicated substantially more than 50% of their time to the Integrated Data Programme. The "red" delivery confidence assessment rating primarily relates to obtaining data owner permission for analysis, as highlighted in numerous other reports . Significant progress is being made in unblocking data flows, however senior sponsorship is still required to fully realise the benefits of mission delivery. We’re now making good progress in obtaining that sponsorship.

The annual cost of the service is now low. The majority of the expenditure has been invested in building infrastructure that is also used for other core ONS business and it is now ready for use.

Future funding of the IDP is under consideration as part of Spending Review 2025, the outcome of which will not be announced until 11 June 2025. All Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) programmes are subject to an Accounting Officer assessment as part of established governance procedures.

The IDS was accredited under the Digital Economy Act (2017) in September 2023. The accreditation of the IDS under the DEA was reviewed after 12 months, in September 2024.

During the development of the platform prior to September 2023, the IDS was audited by the UKSA Research Accreditation Panel to establish the readiness of the IDS for DEA accreditation. These audits occurred in February 2023 and June 2023.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

1For further details, you can refer to the Independent Review of the UK Statistics Authority by Professor Denise Lievesley CBE and Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee: Transforming the UK’s Evidence Base report.