FOI ref: FOI/2022/4187
You asked
I wish to have a more detailed understanding of a comment made by James Harris of ONS in a recently disclosed email. Can I please see any correspondence or other record of the "bristled debate" with Manchester. Can I please see any other examples of stakeholder complaints as described below by Mr Harris, within the last 4 years, within the FOI cost limits, of persons or authorities complaining, in James Harris's words:
"those were the numbers, live with it, there's nothing more we can do"? The biggest qualm we've heard as feedback – for all ONS outputs not just yours – has been that "ONS is willing to hear what people say, but seems to do literally nothing with it, they just do what they were going to do anyway with a very broad-brush and little local insight". In one instance with Manchester, that lead to somewhat vigorous bristled debate".
We said
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request asking for further information about James Harris' comments about a 'bristled debate' with Manchester and further complaints about ONS statistics.
Much of Mr Harris' liaison work with local and combined authorities has been conducted through in-person meetings and by telephone: as such the 'bristled debate' referred to with Manchester and with colleagues in ONS was the summary of a combination of various verbal interactions. Further, his reference to other similar exchanges also occurred during telephone conversations.
A search of the correspondence from the team he was part of for this work has not found any written complaints from local authorities about ONS statistics.
A search of the correspondence records of Population Statistics Division's public contact email address and other written communication channels has been carried out going back to the beginning of 2020. This search found 5 pieces of correspondence and 2 direct emails (attached). Personal data has been redacted from this pack of correspondence under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
There have been several Parliamentary Questions about our population estimates and projections and these are publicly available via https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/.
The search for has been limited to these parameters in order to not exceed the cost limit for Freedom of Information requests.
When accessing any of our files, please read the 'notes, terms and conditions' contained within them.
Should you require anything further, please do not hesitate to contact us directly at pop.info@ons.gov.uk.