Sadiq Khan has delivered a major transparency boost by signing up City Hall and its agencies to the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice.
The code includes commitments to ensuring statistics published are “of public value, are high quality and are produced by people and organisations that are worthy of trust.”
Unlike many other public bodies, the Greater London Authority isn’t legally obliged to comply with the code, but the Mayor has committed his agencies to implementing it voluntarily in line with his manifesto commitment
Members of the London Assembly had previously and unsuccessfully urged former Mayor Boris Johnson to make such a move in the light of the UKSA’s rebuke of his use of statistics.
Mr Khan’s decision to adopt the code commits City Hall, Transport for London, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, London Fire Brigade, London Legacy Development Corporation and Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation to publishing statistics regularly and transparently.
A schedule of when key data will be released has been published on the City Hall website.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said: “Sadiq has vowed to lead a transparent, engaged and accessible administration and is fulfilling a manifesto commitment to voluntarily apply the Code of Practice for Statistics across the Greater London Authority (GLA) Group.
“He hopes this gives Londoners the confidence that the GLA is producing high quality statistics that can be trusted.”