Latest news with #OfficeOfNationalStatistics
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
UK inflation eases by less than anticipated ahead of Bank of England rate decision
LONDON — Inflation in the U.K. dropped modestly in May as a drop in air fares and transport costs were largely offset by rising food prices, particularly chocolate, official figures showed Wednesday. The Office of National Statistics said consumer prices rose by 3.4% in the year to May, down from 3.5% the previous month.
Entrepreneur
03-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
5 Metrics Every Business Should Track to Maximise AI Investments
As the European AI landscape evolves, so too must the standards to measure success. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur Europe, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) updates its shopping basket every year to reflect how consumers spend, adding new items like VR headsets or yoga mats as habits evolve. Businesses need to do the same with performance metrics. Artificial intelligence is now a central force in driving growth, yet many companies still measure success using outdated KPIs. With nearly half (42%) of European businesses now regularly using artificial intelligence (AI) — a 27% increase in just one year — the urgency is clear: if you don't measure what matters, you can't manage it. To truly maximise AI investments, C-suite leaders must update their own shopping baskets and rethink the benchmarks used to judge value. Here are five metrics that every business should be tracking to ensure AI success. 1. Data quality Even the most advanced AI models produce untrustworthy results if they're trained on inaccurate or irrelevant information. At best, this shortcoming is a temporary inconvenience that drains money and time. At worst, entrusting unsatisfactory data to AI systems leads to costly mistakes in user-level applications — all of which can damage an organisation's reputation and profit. With the success of AI hinging on high-quality data, it's important to perform regular data audits focused on improving accuracy. Routine reviews like this are a way to patrol data pipelines, checking that they're free of inconsistencies that could otherwise undermine AI outputs. 2. Data coverage Clean data is one priority; complete data is another. The AI models without access to every dataset are more vulnerable to blind spots, causing limitations in their ability to detect trends and identify key opportunities. For instance, insurers that automate their risk assessment processes with AI typically ingest data from operational logs, market patterns and even independent sources like weather forecasts. Accidentally neglecting just one of these could result in the misinterpretation of costly payout claims. To counter similar risks, conducting regular assessments of your data landscape to uncover overlooked data points. Eliminating visibility gaps allows businesses to paint a full picture of their digital environment, ensuring all data channels are readily available for AI usage. 3. Operational efficiency gains The clearest way to measure the success of a new initiative is to see how much time or money it saves compared to the previous approach. Put simply: a factory that installs a faster conveyor belt should see an increase in productivity. AI is no exception to that logic. From accelerating loan approvals to automating data entry, the long-term objective of AI in any industry is to reduce turnaround times and cut costs. Failure to gauge operational impact makes it difficult to justify ongoing investment. As such, it's sensible to measure process durations before and after AI integration — a benchmarking method DHL deployed to recognise that its AI-powered robots had delivered a 40% increase in sorting capacity, quantifying their investment's active contribution to business KPIs. 4. Adoption rate across teams Just because a solution successfully goes live, it doesn't mean adoption is fully guaranteed. Really, true value comes when AI is embedded into workflows across the whole company — not just the IT department. Some teams will immediately embrace the AI tools presented to them, whereas others need more support. To assess where training or change management might be necessary, it's helpful to track departmental usage data and run regular employee feedback surveys. This approach works for high-performing organisations, who are more likely to bring employees with them on their AI journey by providing extensive AI training. In this context, understanding digital behaviour is the starting point for extracting more engagement from AI. 5. Return on investment (ROI) Naturally, businesses leaders need to understand the financial return they're getting back from investment. However, the ROI generated from AI initiatives is often complex, involving both tangible and intangible benefits. Take the Berlin-based online retailer Zalando, which recently shared that it uses generative AI to produce digital imagery at a rapid rate. Not only has that directly reduced costs by 90%, but the faster turnaround in editorial campaigns also indirectly boosted the company's competitiveness in the fast fashion market. Every possible performance metric must be considered when curating a digital strategy. That's why it's important to develop a well-rounded ROI framework for AI — factoring in both the direct and indirect consequences of any planned change. Measure what matters, scale what works AI is already demonstrating its ability to reshape organisations, but the reality is that many still struggle to prove its concrete value. Without establishing the right criteria for success, businesses will lack accountability and struggle to align tech performance with financial gains. To maximise ROI on AI, you must clarify the standards that you wish your digital growth to be founded on. This will unlock the insights needed to safely course-correct, scale success, and build long-term trust in your AI strategy. As the AI landscape evolves, so too must the standards to measure success. Just like the ONS shopping basket reflects changing habits, businesses must ensure performance metrics reflect the realities of AI-driven operations. By focusing on data quality, coverage, efficiency, adoption, and ROI, leaders can ensure AI investments aren't just tracked but transformed into long-term value.
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The happiest area of the UK - where people are least likely to get depressed, according to new data
New data released by the Office of National Statistics has revealed Britain's happiest—and unhappiest—regions. Every year, since 2011, the statistics watchdog asks tens of thousands of people in the UK to rank their happiness, life satisfaction, anxiety levels and sense of worth out of 10. According to data released today, those living in the South West of England are most likely to be generally happy. Residents living in the mainly rural area, consisting of Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire, scored an average of 7.6 on the happiness index. And more than a third of residents reported very high levels of happiness, scoring between nine and 10. Overall, the UK scored an average of 7.43 out of 10 for happiness, with Northern Ireland being home to the happiest people, who rated their happiness at 7.7. Conversely, the North East, North West and West Midlands jointly claimed the bottom slot, with residents ranking their happiness score as 7.3 on average. Average happiness scores are on the rise in the UK, after scores dropped to 7.39 in 2022/23—the lowest figure logged since the pandemic. Interestingly, levels of happiness tend to increase as people get older, with 70 to 74-year olds obtaining the happiest scores. In reponse to questions about life satisfaction, the South West of England logged one of the highest rates, along with Yorkshire and the Humber and the East of England, with residents ranking contentment with life as 7.6 out of 10. At the other end of the scale came London and the West Midlands, where residents reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction. The West Midlands is home to the highest number of residents who reported very low levels of life satisfaction, with nearly one in 10 residents ranking between zero and four. The average UK anxiety levels meanwhile have remained the same between 2023 and 2024, hovering at around 3.2. Apart from the year Covid hit, this remains the highest figure on record. Residents in the East Midlands and London saw the highest levels of anxiety last year, from October to December, with over a quarter of East Midlands residents ranking their panic between six and 10. Millennials aged between 30 and 34 expressed the highest levels of anxiety. Whilst statisticians did not indicate what specifically could be behind this, the data covers a period in which Britain was facing a cost-of-living crisis, with millennials hit the hardest on an inflation-adjusted basis. The ONS also highlights limitations of the survey, which only features residents living at private addresses. It does not currently include most communal establishments—such as student halls of residence, hospitals, care homes and prisons.
Telegraph
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour is normalising our new age of mass migration
The Government is bound to be pleased with the new net migration statistics from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Numbers have fallen by around 40 per cent, to 431,000 last year. After the media firestorm over his 'island of strangers' speech, Keir Starmer might well feel that he's fulfilled his promise to 'finally take back control' of the borders. That would be premature, however. Net migration at that level is still a six-figure increase on the levels before the 2016 Brexit referendum, which was viewed as intolerable then. At this rate, Britain is still receiving the equivalent of the population of Bristol every year and would have added an extra 2 million people by 2029. The gross, as opposed to net, figure shows that nearly 1 million immigrants have arrived in the last recorded year. If the Prime Minister really thinks that mass immigration caused 'incalculable' damage to Britain, then he must think that it is still unacceptably high. The population of foreign-born people in Britain is at a record high of 11.4 million, with Karl Williams of the Centre For Policy Studies pointing out that a staggering 1 in 25 of people in Britain arrived here in the last four years. The number of immigrants granted indefinite leave to remain has increased, meaning that the share of the population with foreign origins will grow. That is a historically unprecedented demographic shift, which is already reshaping the country culturally. With immigration flows that high, integration will also prove difficult, if not impossible. In addition, with the number of new houses built only enough for around half of the new arrivals, the cost of housing will continue to increase. In truth, this reduction is largely a result of restrictions brought in by Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick in the dying days of the last Conservative government. Although there have been more restrictions floated by the current Labour Government in their Immigration White Paper, these have yet to be enacted, and probably won't be for months to come. Plans for a Youth Mobility Visa with the EU, especially if it allows dependents, could easily see numbers begin to creep back up. The Prime Minister therefore needs to bring in greater restrictions soon. He can take heart that these dramatic reductions were the result of sensible restrictions on some dependents and an increase in the skilled visa salary requirement. With the new ONS figures showing that 81,000 came here on work visas but were outnumbered by their 132,000 dependents, as well as large numbers coming on family visas or student visas, further restrictions could lower numbers without affecting how many workers despite the predictions of critics, the large drop in net migration hasn't produced the economic problems they foretold. Greater restrictions will also be necessary because the net migration figures for prior years are often subsequently revised upwards. In 2023 net migration turned out to be 22 per cent higher and in 2022 it was 44 per cent higher than initially calculated. If that proves to be the case again, then the Prime Minister's promise to reduce immigration 'significantly' will end up looking very hollow.
