Table of contents
1. Introduction
Our economic statistics are produced in accordance with international rules and guidance. Central to this are the legally binding rules set forth in the European System of Accounts 2010: ESA 2010 and accompanying Manual on Government Deficit and Debt (MGDD). These include rules on classifying statistical units (organisations or bodies) and the transactions they engage in. A summary of these, and our approach to their application, can be found on our economic statistics classification page.
The forward work plan sets out the units and transactions that we expect to assess and classify in the coming 12 to 18 months. There is high demand for classification assessments and at any one time we progress a number of active cases, with new cases often arising. These include confidential assessments of government and devolved administration policy proposals (as explained in our classification process); we do not announce or discuss such policy proposal assessments as a matter of course in order to afford policymakers the space to develop policy. At such a time that a policy is implemented we will publish a classification decision.
As such, the forward work plan does not cover all cases that will arise over the coming 12 to 18 months; furthermore, minor cases (with smaller statistical and policy impacts) will be assessed as resources allow. The cases scheduled in this article have been prioritised due to:
the significant impact they will have on important statistics (an impact of at least £1 billion on the government deficit or £10 billion on government debt)
their importance to public policy
their priority for Eurostat
2. Impacts on fiscal aggregates
Approximate potential impacts on fiscal aggregates are given. The fiscal aggregates are:
public sector net borrowing and public sector net debt for the UK
general government consolidated gross debt and general government net borrowing for European measures
The impact described would occur only if an organisation’s classification status changes from public to private sector (or the other way around), or if a new organisation is classified to the public sector. Transactional classifications can also impact the fiscal aggregates.
For indicative impacts on fiscal aggregates the following definitions are used:
small: less than £100 million change
medium: between £100 million and £1 billion change
large: more than £1 billion change
3. Contact
For enquiries, please contact:
David Beckett
econstats.classifications@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 456980