ONS has established a research facility enabling us to create and maintain a wide portfolio of projects working with outside partners. These arrangements take a variety of forms that are best suited to address the evolving issues and challenges to which compilation of economic statistics is subject. The common theme is collaboration between ONS and outside researchers and other experts adding value.
The research facility will be in additional to the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence and will allow the ONS to access a variety of research partners and organisations. ONS plans to commission up to £3m of research and development work through this mechanism in the coming two years.
More details of the scheme will be published shortly.