Production of Official Statistics from biodiversity monitoring schemes

Results and trends

The national biodiversity monitoring schemes produce survey data each year that is analysed to determine a population index for each species studied. This index is then compared with the indices from past years to produce a trend that will show whether the population of that species is stable or whether it is increasing or decreasing over a given period of time. These time periods are usually five or ten years for a short-term trend and 25 years for a long-term trend.

The Official Statistics JNCC publishes from the monitoring schemes are primarily these population trends, which are presented in data tables, sometimes accompanied with graphs. Most of the trends are reported on for the UK as a whole and for each constituent country.

Interpretation notes

Interpretation notes accompany all Official Statistics releases. Their purpose is to provide anyone viewing and using the statistics with an informative and objective summary of the published results and trends, including the scope and limitations of the statistics. These notes provide a factual and objective description of the results using neutral official terminology, and highlight anything notable in the published trends and other results.

To ensure accuracy, the interpretation notes and any other briefing material that accompanies the Statistics receive quality assurance checks carried out by individuals from the partner organisation who are involved in the production of the Statistics and/or have other relevant expertise.

The notes that accompany the Official Statistics contain the following information:

• Name and release date of the Statistics – for example "This page hosts the Official Statistic 'Population trends for butterflies in the UK', published on 27 March 2025".
• A short description of the monitoring scheme that has generated the data and the time period the statistics refer to.
• Scope of the statistics, for instance "annual indices and 25-year and 10-year population trends".
• Summary of the results and main findings, written in a way that is accessible to a non-specialist audience.
• Relevance of, and confidence in, the results.
• Drivers of change.
• Value of the citizen science approach that all of the monitoring schemes rely on for data collection.
• Links to the scheme website where the statistics will also be available following the point of first release, links to annual reports and to where more detailed data can be accessed from, for instance WeBS Report Online.
• Organisations involved with production and Quality Assurance (QA) of the statistics and in relation to any other Official Statistics or Accredited Official Statistics, as well as references to publications relevant to the statistics or their interpretation.

Setting the release date and announcing the statistics

Scheme partners will need to agree on a publication date well in advance. The release date can be announced up to 12 months ahead of the publication as either provisional or confirmed. The announcement must be made a minimum of four weeks in advance, by which time all publication dates need to be confirmed. If announced early, it is best practice to keep it as a provisional date until the team involved in the production of the statistics are confident that the statistics and the accompanying interpretive material will be ready on the selected date. Once confirmed, the release date can only be altered for statistical reasons that cannot be resolved in time.

Once JNCC has announced the publication date to the Defra Statistics team, the contents of the announcement will be added to the Government release calendar. A link to this can be found on JNCC’s main statistics page, where a link to the Statistics will also be provided. Official Statistics are published at 9.30 am on the declared publication date, or at a later time if this has been agreed in advance.

Production of the results and reports

The data collation, cleaning, analysis and dissemination of results is usually carried out by one or more of the delivery partners who are also responsible for QA. Once ready, the content agreed to be the Official Statistics, such as trend tables together with notes on the interpretation of the results, will be forwarded to JNCC to draft out the narrative to accompany the statistics on the website.

The monitoring schemes often produce additional survey results that are not published as Official Statistics for a variety of reasons, and also report on other surveys outside of the scope of the statistics. Such other trends and survey results tend to be presented alongside the Official Statistics in the scheme annual reports or other documents. Where this happens, it is clearly indicated which part is the Official Statistics.

Limited access to the results ahead of publication

Publishing anything as Official Statistics brings with it certain restrictions of access to the results and to any indication of what the results will show. It is important that Official Statistics are handled carefully to maintain public confidence by demonstrating that their production is trustworthy and free from inappropriate manipulation or use. As a result, access to statistics and their interpretation before their public release is limited to a small group of authorised persons in accordance with the rules set by the Office for Statistical Regulation in the Code of Practice for Statistics. These include those carrying out the data processing, statistical analysis, modelling and interpretation, those involved in preparation of the interpretation notes that accompany the publication of the trends/results, and those involved in QA at any stage of the process. A small number of staff from the partnership organisations are needed for operational reasons, including uploading the results onto the websites, and involved with writing and publishing of the annual report, including QA. A list of authorised persons is drawn up during the production process, and the trends themselves and any indication or interpretation of the results can only be discussed with persons on that list.

Publication day

JNCC's website is the first point of release for the Official Statistics produced from the national biodiversity monitoring schemes. Once published, the Statistics can go live on partner websites, and are usually included within partner publications such as a scheme annual report. These reports clearly indicate which content is the Official Statistics and that they were first published on the JNCC website.

The Statistics go live at 9.30 am on the announced day of publication. They consist of interpretation notes and data tables and graphs. Sometimes these are accompanied with other documentation such as a technical document.

A press release or a news article is issued later in the morning following publication of the statistics, usually but not always by the delivery partner within each monitoring scheme, highlighting key aspects from the statistics.