Ambitious, Radical, Inclusive Economic Statistics (ARIES)

Ambitious, Radical, Inclusive Economic Statistics (ARIES) Programme final evaluation report

The Ambitious, Radical, Inclusive Economic Statistics (ARIES) programme was a three-year transformation programme addressing an ambitious agenda of statistical development, focusing on improving the quality of important economic measures.

Methodology

In line with cross-government best practice, ARIES commissioned an objective evaluation. This aimed to assess the implementation and impact of the ARIES programme. The evaluation used “Theory-Based Impact Evaluation (TBE)” as well as “Implementation Process Evaluation (IPE)” techniques. The full evaluation report can be found in the Links section.

Findings

Many ARIES projects successfully improved data quality, accuracy and efficiency through increased data volumes, more diverse datasets and automation, leading to faster processing and advancement in economic statistics production.

Projects that achieved the most impact shared common features: clear direction and purpose, strong stakeholder engagement, multidisciplinary teams and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Regular feedback loops and stakeholder advisory and technical panels helped ensure outputs remained aligned with user needs and methodological standards.

Despite these successes, ARIES faced delivery challenges. Recruitment freezes and high staff turnover led to under-resourced teams at times, while gaps in technical expertise created dependencies on external support. Some projects were overly ambitious in scope, leading to delays and the need to scale back plans. Communication barriers and inconsistent early stakeholder engagement also affected coordination and delivery in some areas.

Nonetheless, the programme showed resilience and adaptability, with teams adjusting timelines and approaches to maintain progress. These experiences offer valuable lessons for future transformation efforts.

Impacts

ARIES delivered a step change in the production of economic statistics. Across several projects, it improved data quality and efficiency by integrating richer, more diverse datasets and automating previously manual processes. This led to faster turnaround times and more robust outputs, particularly in the Prices and Business Statistics Transformation (BST) projects.

The programme also significantly enhanced the accessibility and usability of statistics. For example, Business Statistics Transformation (BST) improved the granularity and timeliness of business data, while the Prices project introduced new methods that better reflected real-world price changes. These improvements supported more informed decision-making across government and other sectors.

ARIES contributed to a more resilient and future-ready statistical system. The adoption of cloud-based platforms, open-source tools and automation increased flexibility and reduced reliance on legacy systems. While some older systems remain, the programme laid a strong foundation for continued digital transformation.

ARIES also helped build internal capability. Staff involved in the programme gained hands-on experience with modern analytical tools such as Python and R, and several projects successfully upskilled teams in new methods. This investment in people and skills is expected to have lasting benefits for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the wider statistical system.

Next steps

Building on the good work of ARIES, the ONS will continue its focus on improving core economic statistics through the delivery of the recently published Economic Statistics Plan and the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) Programme.

Links

Ambitious, Radical, Inclusive Economic Statistics (ARIES) Programme evaluation report (PDF, 1.2MB)