Welsh Government unveils revamped statistics service

The Welsh Government has launched the public beta of its completely redesigned statistics platform, StatsWales. Developed in partnership with Marvell Consulting, the new service promises a significantly enhanced experience for the nearly 300,000 annual users who rely on StatsWales for critical data on healthcare, agriculture, the labour market, education and more.

The new service reflects the Welsh Government’s commitment to providing an authoritative, consistent and user-friendly source of evidence for decision-making across Wales. The previous StatsWales service, while valuable, presented challenges for users attempting to navigate complex datasets and for publishers constrained by system limitations.

Key improvements and features of the new StatsWales service include:

• simplified navigation to datasets
• improved filtering tools for narrowing down specific datasets to the exact statistics users need
• more customisable options for downloading data or accessing it via API
• consistent user experience in both Welsh and English
• a streamlined publishing process that removes the need for data publishers to create pre-filtered ‘views’ or artificially split large datasets
• built-in, automated validation to help ensure better data quality and consistency
• robust support for a wide range of updates to datasets, allowing publishers to add new information without compromising historical data

Extensive testing of the new consumer site demonstrated exceptional usability, with 33 out of 34 participants completing all assigned tasks perfectly. Publishers themselves describe the new system as ‘straightforward,’ ‘clear,’ and ‘helpful.’

The service was also designed bilingually by default, ensuring a service that will work for all users in Wales. When assessing the service, the panel from the Centre for Digital Public Services noted, “The team understood the fluidity of language and designed with flexibility from the start.”

"The new [service is] more responsive, more user-friendly, and more aligned with how people work with data today."

Stephanie Howarth, Chief Statistician at the Welsh Government says, "This is a major milestone in how we publish and share statistics in Wales. The new [service is] more responsive, more user-friendly, and more aligned with how people work with data today."

Looking ahead, the Welsh Government and Marvell Consulting are committed to continually enhancing the service. Using quantitative and qualitative feedback to further refine and add features. The revamped StatsWales platform represents a significant leap forward in making Welsh Government statistics more accessible, reliable and consistent for everyone.

Read more about our work developing the service, from discovery, through alpha and finally into delivering beta.