Measuring the Economy

Measuring the Economy

An in-person seminar on 1st May 2026

Economic Measurement was at the core of the seminar on 1st May; organised by Better Statistics in association with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the objective was to facilitate a closer understanding between the ONS and UK enterprise, as represented by various UK business organisations. Initially we had engaged with the CBI (Confederation of Business Industry), IoD (Institute of Directors), FSB (Federation of Small Business), BCC (British Chambers of Commerce) and MA – Alliance of Microbusinesses, then we also managed to inform IPSE (the Institute of Professional and Self Employed) and Your Business Community (YBC) of the event.

With topics ranging from the importance of productivity in valuing enterprise to measuring our GDP, including the role of smaller businesses to the economy, the seminar covered a lot of ground. The debates inspired by speakers such as James Benford, the ONS Director General for Surveys and Economic Statistics who provided the keynote on measuring our GDP and Jonathan Haskel on productivity, Sir Vince Cable and Vicky Pryce on policy matters with Liz Barclay and Ian Cass on small business: plus Richard Heys and others from the ONS.

Details of all the speakers, together with the agenda, any slides and a complete video of the meeting, is available: Click Here

As background to the meeting, Better Statistics had also conducted an online survey with the assistance of the various organisations mentioned above. The primary objective of the survey had been to measure their members awareness and usage of the services offered by the ONS. The survey results are available in this Link To Attachment