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Transparency data

Public involvement and engagement strategy

Updated 10 November 2026

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofquals-statistics-policies-and-procedures/user-engagement-strategy-for-statistics-users

This document sets out our strategy for engaging with the users of our statistical publications in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Objectives 

We would like to understand what people need from our statistical releases and interactive visualisations so that we can add value to and improve them wherever practical and appropriate to do so.

This also helps us meet our statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, which outlines our aim to publish statistics that are trustworthy, high-quality, and valuable.

Our users

Users of our statistical releases and interactive visualisations are diverse and have a wide range of needs. Some users need high-level summaries and key messages to support decision-making, while others require access to detailed data to carry out their own analysis.

Our users typically include:

  • awarding organisations offering regulated qualifications in England
  • Department for Education and other government officials
  • government departments and qualification regulators of Wales and Northern Ireland
  • representative bodies and think tanks in the education sector
  • local authority representatives
  • academic researchers
  • schools, colleges and other training providers
  • higher education establishments and their representative bodies
  • employers and their representative bodies
  • students and parents
  • journalists
  • Ofqual staff

Our user engagement toolkit

 Engagement and feedback opportunities

In order to maintain a continuous, two-way conversation, we have created a variety of opportunities for our users to engage with our regular work, and for us to engage with them. These opportunities include:

  • our annual statistical work programmes, where we let users know what actions we have taken over the previous year and what our plans are for the coming year, inviting feedback on those changes and plans
  • the ONS StatsUserNetwork, where we can also promote our surveys and notices
  • promoting our surveys and notices via stakeholder contacts maintained by non-statistical teams within Ofqual
  • hosted webinars or ‘statistics forums’, where appropriate and where there is demand
  • existing discussion forums, for example our regular ‘data forums’ with representatives from awarding organisations
  • within our releases, we invite users to ‘register as a user’; these lists of users can be accessed for future consultation, updates and feedback
  • within our releases, we invite feedback and comments from users, which they can return via a prominently signposted email address and survey link; feedback is welcome on the main report, data tables, and the background information documents which provide more detail on scope, methods and limitations
  • within our releases, we will make users aware of recent changes and, where appropriate, will comment on feedback received and actions taken

Methods to monitor user engagement and feedback

To monitor engagement, user feedback received, and to identify opportunities to improve our statistical releases and interactive visualisations, we will:

  • continue to use anonymous website analytics data to understand how much each product is being engaged with, for example through numbers of page views
  • regularly monitor survey responses, queries, feedback and Freedom of Information requests, identifying themes and actionable feedback  ahead of future releases
  • regularly review summaries of instances where our statistics have featured in the news, identifying themes and opportunities to improve them

Insights from each of these sources will be collated and carefully considered for improvements ahead of the next release of each set of statistics.

Choosing the right engagement approach for our users   

The ways in which we will engage with users will often depend on:

  • the product and its use
  • the nature of the consultation, for example whether we are asking for general feedback or consulting on something specific such as a new product, a change to an existing product or the removal of a product
  • the significance of any changes being proposed

Users are always invited to provide feedback on our statistical releases and interactive visualisations, usually through a general survey and monitored email address which can be found within each release.

Where we are consulting on a specific change, whenever possible we will seek feedback from users prior to making the change through more bespoke engagement activities such as a survey, or using our existing discussion forums or contact lists. For existing statistics, this will usually be promoted in the preceding release of the same statistics. For very significant changes we might consider a webinar or ‘statistics forum’ involving external and internal users.

There may be instances where it is necessary to make a change to a statistical product in order to correct or counteract an existing methodological limitation. If there are several viable options or it is unclear whether we would have users’ support in making the change, we will aim to engage with users prior to making the change via one or more of the aforementioned channels.

Where we are planning new statistics, such as a new statistical release or interactive visualisation, we will aim to seek views from users early on, and throughout the development process, to help shape the product and its contents.

If an existing statistical release does not seem to be used, or no longer appears to hold value, we may consider discontinuing it. Prior to removing statistics, we will engage with users to understand whether this statistical release or interactive visualisation is valuable to them. For example, we will put a notice as part of the latest release along with an option for users to indicate whether they would like the statistics to remain  .

Feeding back to our users

Potential changes suggested by any feedback we receive are considered in light of whether the source data would allow such a change, whether the change would be appropriate (for example, in line with our confidentiality and data management policy), and production staff capacity.

Wherever possible, we will keep users informed of changes made to releases, particularly following user feedback. We will aim to communicate not only when user feedback can be accommodated, but also where it cannot be accommodated and the reasons why. By keeping users informed, we aim to build trust by demonstrating that their feedback is valued. To achieve this we will:

  • share any major changes and summaries of consultations and feedback in our annual statistical work programme
  • where possible, provide a summary of feedback provided for specific releases and any associated changes in the background information document accompanying the release
  • where appropriate, update users who have registered to a specific release with a summary of feedback provided and any associated changes

To find out more about recent changes and planned developments and priorities for our statistical publications, please see our annual statistical work programme.

We welcome feedback on any of our statistical products, interactive visualisations, or this strategy. You can share your views by emailing data.analytics@ofqual.gov.uk or through the following surveys:

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