The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is hosting its first Economic Forum on Monday 7 April.

The ONS Economic Forum, which will be a quarterly event, is an opportunity for City analysts, business economists, media, and academic users to discuss issues relating to measuring the economy and how a range of ONS economic statistics, including GDP, prices, the labour market and the public finances, contribute to this.

The first event will look back at some of the ONS’ key economic statistics from the past three months and answer your questions about them. We will present new information on a broader range of measures of economic wellbeing beyond just GDP, talk about the role of the single month employment and unemployment estimates, and take a look ahead to developments in the coming months, including expected changes for Blue Book 2014.

We are keen to tailor the ONS Economic Forum agenda to the issues that are of most interest to you. Your suggestions for this and future ONS Economic Forum topics will be invaluable in shaping these events and can be emailed to economic.forum@ons.gov.uk . If you have any questions about economic statistics, you can email these to the same address and we shall answer them as soon as possible.

We hope you will be able to attend the first ONS Economic Forum, which will be introduced by ONS Director-General Glen Watson.
PPlaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Please RSVP to economic.forum@ons.gov.uk , along with details of any accessibility requirements.

We look forward to welcoming you on 7 April.
Peter Patterson
Deputy Chief Economic Adviser
Office for National Statistics
Tel: 01633 45645101633 456451
email: peter.patterson@ons.gsi.gov.uk

For the latest data on the economy and society consult National Statistics at http://www.ons.gov.uk