Error unknown: clarifying corrections

Full Fact often works with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to help journalists, politicians and the public better understand statistics, correcting mistakes when they are made. But even the official statistics producer sometimes falls a little short when it comes to corrections.

When researching a factcheck a few weeks ago, we came across the following correction in an ONS data table on regional growth:

"An error was identified in Table B2 of the the reference table SRLPROD01 within this release. Table B2 has now been corrected."

While we're pleased that the correction has been made, the way it has been highlighted raises more questions than it answers.

Anyone using the table before the correction was issued might wonder what has been changed, and whether any analysis is still valid.

The ONS told Full Fact one issue influencing the text was that they did not expect Table B2 to be a major part of users analysis - since it was published as supplementary background data. But, they agreed that providing more detail in the notice would have saved time and effort for anyone who had analysed the original data.

They will be looking to make the correction notice clearer if any errors happen again in the future.