Transparency data

Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

Updated 30 October 2025

Applies to England

Ofqual’s official statistics are produced in line with the principles included within the Code of Practice for Statistics (henceforth referred to as ‘the Code’). For our other statistical releases, we also aim to adhere to these principles wherever possible.

Our statistics are regularly reviewed with the Code in mind, and we work to improve them as and when opportunities to strengthen them are identified.

This document outlines the ways in which we work under the 3 pillars of the Code, which are trustworthiness, quality and value. Each of these pillars contain a number of individual principles, which form the sub-section titles below.

Trustworthiness

Honesty and integrity

Within Ofqual’s analytical function, the production of official statistics is taken seriously, and leadership promotes and protects a culture of honesty and integrity throughout our work.

Staff working on the production and quality assurance of statistics are appropriately insulated from political pressures that either could, or could appear to, influence the production or presentation of statistical publications. All staff involved in the production and quality assurance of official statistics are also asked to sign a declaration stating that they will protect the confidentiality of official statistics prior to their release.

We are focusing on improving our understanding of user needs and identifying ways to better meet those needs (see our user engagement strategy for statistics users for more information).

When reporting statistics, we focus on objectivity and transparency. For more information, see our publication and dissemination policy for official statistics and our corrections and revisions policy for official statistics.

Independent decision making and leadership

Ofqual has a Head of Profession for Statistics in post, who is responsible for promoting and overseeing the production of official statistics in line with the Code, challenging any potential misuse of statistics and data. This post reports to senior colleagues within Ofqual on operational matters, but also directly to the National Statistician for matters relating to the production of statistics.

Regular communication is maintained between Ofqual’s Head of Profession for Statistics and the Office for Statistics Regulation.

Orderly release

All Ofqual official statistics are preannounced on our preannouncements calendar. Statistics are scheduled for release as soon as is practical after the data being made available to us. They are published on our website at 9:30am, usually on a Thursday (see our publication and dissemination policy for official statistics for more information).

Corrections and revisions are handled according to our corrections and revisions policy for official statistics, including that they should be published as promptly as possible.

Prior to public release, access to official statistics is strictly restricted to those directly involved in the production or quality assurance of the statistics; 24-hour pre-release is also made available to eligible recipients (further information is available in our pre-release policy for official statistics).

Transparent processes and management

We transparently publish our policies and procedures for official statistics on our website, making clear our commitments on engaging with users and focusing on quality, for example.  

We aim to seek more external audits from the Office for Statistics Regulation in the near future for external assurance of our procedures and publications.

Professional capability

Our statistics production staff work with a number of good practice principles and frameworks in mind, as outlined in our quality framework for statistical publications. These help ensure that our skills and processes are robust, resilient and high quality. Layers of accountability also help ensure the same.

Several our staff are badged members of the Government Statistician Group (GSG), and we are seeking to increase this number in the near future. Opportunities for professional development are encouraged as and when identified.

Data governance

As described in our statement on confidentiality and data security, we take various appropriate measures to protect data security and the confidentiality of data subjects. Our rounding policy supports the same.

Quality

Suitable data sources

As described in our statement on administrative data sources, most of the data used to produce our official statistics comes from the systems awarding organisations use to administer their qualifications.

Given that this data is collected for administrative purposes, not necessarily with statistical reporting in mind, our statistics production staff focus on understanding the nature of the data (including its potential caveats, limitations and sources of uncertainty) and carrying out a number of validation and quality assurance activities.

We maintain an open dialogue with data providers, both on an ad-hoc basis and through quarterly data forum meetings, to gain and maintain an understanding of the data they supply, to ensure they have a firm understanding of our data requirements, and to address any potential or realised data quality issues.

We aim to be as transparent as possible in our statistical releases regarding the quality of the data being used, including any limitations and potential or actual sources of uncertainty, and the likely impact these might have on the figures reported, as noted in our publication and dissemination policy for official statistics.

Sound methods

As described in our quality framework for statistical publications, we work with a number of cross-government good practice frameworks in mind to ensure that our methods are reproducible and high-quality.

Where complex methods have been applied, an explanation will be given. We will be transparent on any known caveats or limitations associated with these methods.

In general, our statistics present a 5-year time series, with previous publications also being kept available for historical trends. Where methods have changed that might interrupt this time series, these will be clearly explained. As per our user engagement strategy for statistics users, we will consult with users before making major changes to methodology or presentation, wherever possible.

Assured quality

We have processes in place to ensure our statistics are as high quality as possible, as described in our quality framework for statistical publications. We continually review the strength of our processes to identify areas for improvement.

We work with user needs in line, and are seeking to improve our understanding of our users and their needs as described in our user engagement strategy for statistics users, making changes to statistical releases to better align with those needs wherever practical and appropriate to do so.

Where errors occur, or data is missing or late, we will be up-front and transparent about these, aiming to publish corrections or revisions as soon as possible. See our corrections and revisions policy for official statistics for more information.

Value

Relevance to users

As described in our user engagement strategy for statistics users, we continually seek to improve our understanding of our users and their needs, so that we can improve the relevance of our statistics wherever practical and appropriate to do so. Feedback from users is encouraged as part of every release.

We publish releases in a manner that aims to engage with the greatest possible number of relevant users. See our publication and dissemination policy for official statistics for more detail.

Accessibility

Our statistics are published openly to all on our GOV.UK site. During production, attention is given to the accessibility of text, tables and charts, according to relevant accessibility guidelines (such as those provided by the Government Analysis Function), enabling access to as wide a range of users as a possible. See our publication and dissemination policy for official statistics for more information.

Clarity and insight

As described above, we aim to produce statistics that are clear and accessible to as wide a range of relevant users as possible. All our statistics are accompanied by an explanation of trends and necessary background information, including links to related reports.

Innovation and improvement

Statistics production staff are encouraged to develop themselves and explore opportunities for innovation, to improve production processes and published products in order to enhance efficiency, quality, accessibility and clarity.  

Where major developments are planned or being made, we will consult with users, as described in our user engagement strategy for statistics users.

We may at times publish statistics as ‘official statistics in development’, to recognise where we are developing new methodologies or exploring new data sources (or both). Where we do so, we will include statements on the nature of those developments, including plans for the future (as per the Office for Statistics Regulation guidance on producing official statistics in development).

Efficiency and proportionality

As part of our statistics releases, we published aggregated data tables to allow for re-use. We also grant access to some granular data to accredited researchers through our GRADE data sharing project.

Before initiating any new data collections, we consult with our data suppliers (awarding organisations) to assess the proportionality of the request. How we work with our data suppliers is described further in our statement on administrative data sources.