Statistics professionals at the Department for Education have been recognised for the impact of their work to help improve the quality of information on school attendance and related safeguarding issues
A team from the Department for Education has won this year’s Campion Award for Excellence in Official Statistics – named in honour of Sir Harry Campion, the first director of the Central Statistical Office, which was the forerunner to the Office for National Statistics.
DfE’s school census team picked up the accolade at the Royal Statistical Society’s annual Statistical Excellence Awards. The award recognises the team’s proactive response to the need for better data on school attendance, and related safeguarding issues, which gained prominence during the coronavirus pandemic.
Judges of the Campion Award – presented in partnership with the UK Statistics Authority and PublicTechnology sister publication Civil Service World – said the DfE team had delivered a system to collect daily pupil-level attendance from schools within six months. Fortnightly official statistics have been published using the system since September, allowing policymakers to identify trends more easily and respond quickly to issues that arise.
