In recent decades, alongside a greater propensity by governments to intervene in the affairs of foreign nations and greater international collaboration around matters of trade and supranational problems such as climate change and terrorism, we have seen significant changes in the nature of domestic state activity. These include withdrawal from certain areas of activity such as service provision, with implications for the cost, quality, accessibility and accountability of ‘public’ services; changes in the allocation of resources through taxation, public spending and regulatory mechanisms with marked effects on inequality; changing social relations within the state brought about by a shifting boundary between private and public sectors; and reductions in the powers of the Westminster-based government and its associated civil service in favour of expanded powers and responsibilities accruing to governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

This Part speaks to some of these dimensions of the changing role of the state and highlights the political character of many data and statistics. Chapter 9 examines the changing governance of official statistics. David Rhind asks who controls official statistics, for whose benefit and how we can know whether they are fit for purpose. The chapter describes the evolution of UK Official Statistics over an 80-year period under the influence of personalities, politics and government policies, new user needs and changing technology. The author argues these have led to changing institutional structures and periodic oscillations in what statistics are created and the ease of their accessibility by the public. The chapter concludes with the impact of the first major statistical legislation for 60 years, the Statistics and Registration Service Act of 2007 which led to the creation of the UK Statistics Authority. The author argues that among its consequences have been major investment in quality assurance of National and Official Statistics and in professional resourcing and, equally importantly, the statutory specification of government statistics as a public good. The author points to further likely changes in what is collected and how, given the advent of new technologies.

Rhind notes the challenges posed by the decentralised character of UK statistics and Chapter 10 continues the focus on official statistics, this time exploring the consequences of devolution for the generation of statistics across the United Kingdom.