Is the UK in a data crisis?

As Rachel Reeves approaches a tricky budget, her job has got that much harder. Some of our most fundamental economic data, statistics that policymakers are used to accepting at face value, suddenly have major question marks over their accuracy.

The UK’s top stats agency, the Office for National Statistics, finds itself under considerable pressure as falling response rates to its surveys leave politicians flying blind.

David Aaronovitch asks what this means for government decisions and how the ONS can rebuild confidence in its most vital statistics.

Guests:

Georgina Sturge, research affiliate at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford

Professor Denise Lievesley, former Principal of Green Templeton College, Oxford

Chris Giles, economics commentator at the Financial Times.

Peter Lynn, Professor of Survey Methodology at the University of Essex

Presenter: David Aaronovitch

Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele

Producers: Nathan Gower, Kirsteen Knight, Cordelia Hemming

Studio engineer: Duncan Hannant

Editor: Richard Vadon