Official statistics can mean different things to different people.
There are three broad ways of defining it. People and activities are the essential contributors to this. Chapter 2 has already set out the complex web of people involved in official statistical work and explained that this work covers a wide range of activities, from data specification, collection, processing and release, to the provision of statistical advice to Ministers to aid policy development and evaluation. All of this work needs to be carried out to professional standards and with integrity. It will also have to take account of the Freedom of Information Act which the Government is committed to securing during this Parliament.