Guidance

Defra User Engagement for Statistics Policy Statement

Updated 7 July 2025

Applies to England

1. Introduction

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) with its Arms’ Length Bodies (ALBs), is committed to producing high quality, timely and relevant statistics that meet user needs in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, the Regulatory Guidance for User Engagement and the Government Analysis Function’s User Engagement Strategy for Statistics.

Our key objectives are to ensure that Defra’s Statistics are of value to our users, whilst informing debate and having an impact on decisions that affect our society for public good.

1. Environment

2. Food, Farming and Biosecurity

3. Marine

4. Rural

2. Our commitment

To meet our objectives, when producing our statistics we will endeavour to: 

Create a culture of engaging with our users to develop our statistical products by being transparent about the production and release of our statistics. For example, by: 

• Pre-announcing the time and date for the publication of our statistics via the Defra statistics release calendar. 

• Being transparent about the methods we use to produce our data. 

• Being transparent about any changes or revisions we make to our published statistical products. 

• Being open and transparent about our compliance with the Code of Practice. 

• Publishing the details of any pre-release access to official statistics along with our pre-release statement of compliance. 

Collaborate with our users to meet their needs by: 

• Enhancing our understanding of current and potential users and their needs. To support this, where possible we will aim to publish the groups of people who use our data and use cases. 

• Reaching the widest possible range of users who can gain value from our products. For example, by utilising Defra’s Data Services Platform (DSP) to make our data available to a wide range of users. 

• Consulting users on developments and changes to our statistical methodologies, publications and publication processes. 

• Improving the communication of our statistics and analyses. 

• Being progressive and innovative in our user engagement methods, by providing a variety of opportunities for users to access our data and give us their views. 

• Responding quickly and accurately to questions and enquiries from our users. 

• Processing the data we hold legally and securely. 

Build on our capabilities to engage with our users by: 

• Building a user engagement network who support teams in user engagement initiatives, develop best practice guides and a user engagement standards framework.  

• Demonstrating the value of good user engagement through celebrating and sharing our case studies. 

• Working with our teams to address barriers to user engagement. 

This policy statement sets out how we intend to meet these commitments. It will be adopted by core Defra statistics teams and by any teams in our ALBs who wish to do so in preference to publishing their own policy on user engagement.

3. Who are our users?

Our users come from a wide range of backgrounds and have diverse needs; from analysts seeking access to raw data for detailed exploration, to members of the public or decision-makers who rely on accessible summaries and clear key messages. 

Outside Defra Group, we know that those accessing and using our products include: 

• Local/regional government and other local public sector bodies. 

• Academics, researchers and students. 

• The private sector, where we further categorise users by industry type: agriculture, environmental industry sector, other specific industry types (for example but not limited to finance, particular manufacturing industries, service sector, health, catering & hospitality, consultancy firms). 

• International bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). 

• Voluntary sector. 

• Media and commentators. 

• The general public. 

We will assess potential options to continually develop our knowledge of who our users are and how we can extend our reach to new users by: 

• Using information already collected, for example through feedback, complaints, ad hoc requests, consultation responses and social media. 

• Inviting comments and feedback through our statistics webpages. 

• Encouraging and providing the opportunity for users to formally register as users for example, via completing a registration form accessible on our publications landing pages or via the StatsUserNetwork.

4. Understanding our user needs

The composition of our statistics and how we deliver them are guided by our understanding of user needs. To understand user needs effectively we will use a variety of approaches to gain insight into what they are looking for, how they look for it and how valuable it is to them. 

Where it will add value, we will use web analytics to gain insight into the relative popularity of our various outputs and formats. 

We will seek user views on: 

• The breadth and cohesiveness of our portfolios. 

• Relevance of content and format, for example the balance of explanatory narrative versus data tables or charts. 

• Frequency of outputs.

• Ease of access and navigation. 

• Methods employed.

5. How we engage with our users

We will maintain a 2-way dialogue with our users and will: 

• Aim to advise users of intended changes to our products in advance of making the changes.  

• Keep users informed about changes and specifically where changes have been made in response to feedback. 

• Treat user engagement as an ongoing, collaborative activity using an informal iterative approach in preference to formal consultation. 

To better engage with our users, we will: 

• Make use of blogs, focus groups and platforms such as the StatsUserNetwork. 

• Where possible, invite users to targeted segmented workshops / seminars / face to face meetings / forums focusing on: 

1. our most significant and important users, that is, those who most frequently interact with us irrespective of route. 
2. individuals / organisations who use the datasets / releases deemed to be of the highest value, based on web usage analytics and user feedback. 

In addition to improving our engagement with users, we will provide open, easy access and use the most appropriate route in each instance. 

• Our main engagement route will continue to be through our statistics web pages on GOV.UK where we have the facility to invite comments from users. 

• We will use short surveys to identify new users and to collect information on views and preferences. These will be advertised to users via the website and social media platforms including StatsUserNetwork. 

• We will use the social media platforms to flag the release of our outputs where we see appropriate. 

• We will publish contact details on all our official statistics outputs.

6. Authority

This policy statement has been drawn up by the Defra Group Head of Profession for Statistics, who is also responsible for ensuring the day-to-day implementation of these arrangements in the core Defra Department and providing professional oversight and guidance to our ALBs.

Any enquiries about the contents of this statement please email StatisticsHoPDefra@defra.gov.uk 

04 July 2025