Expressions of Interest for Level 5 qualification in Statistics

Office for National Statistics (ONS) are seeking Expressions of Interest from providers who have the capability and capacity to undertake a contract for the Provision of a Level 5 qualification in Statistics, and wish to take part in a potential procurement exercise. The procurement is likely to commence in June 2017 and the new contract is due to begin in September 2017.

The contract term will be for an initial one year term with a possibility to extend further. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Capability team develops and promotes the tools and guidance to empower people to build their analytical capability.

We collaborate with other analytical professions in government and academic institutions to create a cadre of analytic staff to blend statistical methods with data science. The Data Science branch focuses on developing peoples understanding of programming and its applications in a cloud environment.

It also builds on analytical skills in structured and unstructured datasets, data mining and data analysis. The GSS has offered the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) Higher Certificate in Statistics to members of staff requiring a Level 5 qualification in Statistics as part of the Analytical Learning Pathway.

A Level 5 qualification in Statistics is essential and underpins learning at higher levels. From September 2017, the RSS Higher Certificate in Statistics will no longer be offered by the RSS.

This has resulted in a gap for a Level 5 qualification in Statistics; hence ONS is approaching the market for a Level 5 qualification in Statistics to be provided from September 2017. In 2016/17, there were 14 new enrolments for the RSS Higher Certificate. From 2017 onwards, we are expecting a similar number to enrol for an equivalent qualification.