Statistics Wales quarterly update: March 2026

This is the latest in a series of quarterly updates, for users of Welsh statistics, on our latest developments, consultations, and plans.

A full list of our most recent publications can be found on our upcoming calendar.

We’re continuing to add more data and new features to our new StatsWales open data service. 

All data sets, apart from a small number of exceptions, are now available on the new service. In February we added a search bar to help you find and access the vast wealth of data. Soon you will be able to choose whether to view the whole dataset or create your own table.

The old StatsWales service will close after the end of February and you will be redirected to the new service.

We have published a large selection of data for Senedd constituencies to support data and research needs ahead of the May Senedd elections. Subjects covered include: 

• Demography (including population, the Welsh language, vital statistics)
• Deprivation
• Economy and labour market
• Education and skills
• Health and wellbeing
• Housing
• Environment
• Road collisions and casualties

Economy

The role of the Welsh Economic Statistics User Group is to engage with and advise Welsh Government analysts on strategic priorities and the work plan for economic statistics in Wales. Past agenda items and presentations, as well as the terms of reference can be found online. The next meeting will be held on 20 October 2026. We are eager to extend membership of this group to a wider audience. If you would be interested in joining this group, which meets twice a year (either hybrid or online), please contact KASevents@gov.wales. 

In January, we published our Business Demography by industry: 2024 (StatsWales) and we published our Short-term output indicators: July to September 2025 which shows the short term movements in the output of industries in the production, construction and market services sectors. In March, we will publish our Size analysis of business: 2025 release. 

If you would like to get in touch, please contact economic.stats@gov.wales 

Labour market

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have highlighted that the challenges with maintaining response rates for the Labour Force Survey (LFS) continue to affect data quality. As a result LFS-based labour market statistics are labelled as official statistics in development (OSR) until further review and we continue to recommend caution when interpreting this data. 

We continue to publish our monthly labour market overview release, which brings together a range of different labour market sources. We recommend using the LFS data alongside the trends in these other measures of the labour market to gain a clearer picture of the impact different events have on the Welsh labour market.

ONS are introducing a new Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) which they plan to become the main data source for information on the labour market in the UK and Wales in the future. The latest updates from the ONS on the quality of the Labour Force Survey (ONS) and the planned improvements for economic statistics (ONS), published in January 2026 and December 2025 respectively, include information on the actions ONS have been and continue to take to improve the quality of the LFS and labour market statistics.

In January we published the annual update for our Claimant count and jobseeker’s allowance StatsWales tables. 

Our Annual Population Survey (APS) labour market statistics data for October 2024 to September 2025 which includes data for UK countries and regions and also for local areas as well as annual statistics from the APS on the participation of young people in education and the labour market for October 2024 to September 2025 were also released in January.

In March, Jobs Growth Wales+ statistics for October to December 2025 will be published which presents information on young people enrolled on the Jobs Growth Wales+ programme.

If you would like to get in touch, please contact labourmarket.stats@gov.wales  

Trade Survey for Wales

The analysis of Trade Survey for Wales 2022 is available online. A contract was awarded to conduct cognitive testing, piloting, and mainstage survey. The pilot survey is due to launch in March with mainstage survey due to launch in September 2026. This work commenced November 2025 and will conclude by March 2027. 

For further information contact: stats.trade@gov.wales.

Welsh international goods trade

Results from HMRC Regional Trade Statistics for Wales’s international goods trade for year ending September 2025 were published 18 December 2025, with the next quarter’s data due to be published on 19 March 2026. 

HMRC published a pre-announcement of corrections to the UK Overseas Trade in goods Statistics following the identification of an error affecting exports of fuels (HS2 Chapter 27). This error affects data from March 2024 onwards. 

Revised RTS accounting for the correction will be available in the next routine publication on 19th March 2026 for all UK nations and regions including Wales, alongside a corrected timeseries back to March 2024. Ahead of publication, HMRC have estimated that the correction would increase Wales’s goods exports for 2024 by approximately 7.9%, (£1.4 billion) compared with the current published annual 2024 total of £17.5 billion. For January - September 2025, exports are estimated to increase by around 12.1% (£1.5 billion) compared with the current 2025 published total of £12.7 billion.

Alongside the above statistics, the interactive trade dashboard will be kept updated to the latest quarter’s data. 

For further information contact: stats.trade@gov.wales.

Supply and use tables and input output tables

Supply-use and input-output tables for 2019 were published as official statistics in development on 11 March 2025. The next set of tables, using 2022 data, will be published in July 2026. 

If you are interested in using these tables for your own research and would like advice on their application, please get in touch.

For further information contact: InputOutputTables@gov.wales 

Schools

Attendance data

We publish fortnightly data on pupils’ attendance in maintained schools throughout the spring term using our administrative data. The releases now include additional analysis on persistent absence and the distribution of absence.

The official statistical release Attendance and absence from primary schools: September 2024 to August 2025 was published on 27 November 2025 to complement the equivalent release for secondary schools that was published on 30 September 2025. A combined release covering both primary and secondary schools was published on 16 December 2025.

My Local School

In January we updated My Local School with final KS4 outcomes for summer 2025 and absence from primary schools for 2024/25.

Other statistical releases

On 4 December 2025 we published the final data on Examination results September 2024 to August 2025.

Counselling for children and young people: Sep 2024 to Aug 2025 will be published in March 2026.

If you have any questions or would like to provide feedback, you can contact us on school.stats@gov.wales.

Higher education and student finance

We recently published our annual release on Education Maintenance Allowances (EMA) awarded in Wales and will soon be publishing our annual releases on Welsh Government Learning Grants (further education) and Initial teacher education. 

To provide feedback, or for any further information, please contact highereducationandstudentfinance.stats@gov.wales

Estimates of additional housing need 

Estimates of additional housing need: 2025-based were published in February, replacing the 2019 estimates. The 2025 estimates draw on the most up to date data sources. Changes since 2019 include presenting existing unmet need as a single current estimate rather than spreading it over a number of years, using the latest household projections, updating income and rent information to reflect current conditions and presenting figures at a national level only. These changes reflect an improved understanding of the uses of the estimates. A Chief Statistician’s blog has been published alongside the release, explaining more about the estimates and what they tell us (Digital and Data blog).

Housing publications

Household estimates: mid 2024 (28 January 2026)

New housebuilding: July to September 2025 (published 29 January 2026)

Homelessness accommodation provision and rough sleeping: November 2025 (published 5 February 2026)

Please contact us via the stats.housing@gov.wales mailbox with any queries or requests.

Hospital statistics

This quarter we updated the monthly NHS activity and performance summary. This included restoration of Betsi Cadwaladr referral to treatment statistics and revisions to the impacted back series. We also updated our recently developed quarterly output on a deep dive of NHS performance for each Welsh Local Health Board and annual report examining NHS cross-border care between Wales and England.

Mental health

This quarter saw an update to our annual statistics on Patients in mental health hospitals and units and three years’ worth of data on Admission of patients to mental health facilities, bringing our publications in these areas up to date for the first time since their disruption following the pandemic. There were also updates to other quarterly mental health statistics relating to Detentions under Section 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act and the Mental Health (Wales) Measure 2010.

Primary care and community health

This quarter we published an update to primary care statistics on General practice activity and NHS dental services. As well as updates to the Healthy Child Wales Programme and Breastfeeding data.

NHS workforce and expenditure

This quarter saw an update to our quarterly data on Staff directly employed by the NHS, Sickness absence in the NHS and NHS vacancy statistics, this time as a single compendium release, NHS workforce: staff directly employed by NHS Wales.

Other health and social services statistics

This quarter has also seen regular updates to a range of other health and social services statistics including; Eye care measures and Smoking cessation services. As well as the first publication of a data collection on Adults receiving care and support, which provides information on the characteristics and attributes of these adults for the first time. 

More widely from Welsh Government there have been associated releases of the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, Data for the Senedd Cymru constituency areas and National Survey for Wales: results viewer all of which have data relating to health and from other organisations reports on Deaths by suspected suicide, Abortion statistics and the Congenital Anomaly Register and Information Service which relate to health in Wales.

All our statistical releases are available on the Statistics and research website and more detailed underlying data is available on the health and social care area of StatsWales. 

For further information or to get in touch please email stats.healthinfo@gov.wales.

The Fair Work statistical bulletin was published on 5 February 2026. The bulletin covers workplace benefits and workplace decision making, with detailed analysis on the characteristics of people most likely to get paid sick leave, or to be able to learn Welsh in their workplace.

The Active Travel statistical bulletin will be published on 10 March. This bulletin will examine the characteristics of people most likely to walk or cycle as a means of transport, as well as those whose children are most likely to walk or cycle to school.

The Armed Forces statistical bulletin will be published during the spring. This bulletin will examine the characteristics of armed forces veterans in Wales, as well as those who have family members who are serving, or have served in the armed forces.

Further results from the 2024-25 National Survey for Wales will be published to the Results viewer. These will include, data relating to the statistical bulletins published this quarter, as well as mental well-being, e-cigarette use, workplace bullying and ageism, and more.

Please contact us at surveys@gov.wales if you have any questions.

Poverty and cost of living

The annual update to a suite of official statistics relating to poverty and deprivation will be published by DWP on 26 March 2026. This will include a number of developments and some revisions to recent years of data (Department for Work and Pensions). We will publish additional breakdowns of Welsh data at the same time. 

Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD)

We continue to publish additional data based on WIMD 2025 ranks and indicator data on StatsWales. Our publication dates page lists what we have released and what’s coming next.

In January we published deprivation profiles for economic regions, local health boards and the new Senedd constituency areas, as well as indicator data for local authorities. 

Contact us by emailing stats.inclusion@gov.wales if you would like to join our subscriber list for notifications of new releases, or are interested in registering for future WIMD 2025 information sessions.

Fire

We have published Fire and rescue incident statistics for the financial year 2024-25, including data on the new StatsWales service.

We are continuing to review our suite of fire releases with the next Grassland fires statistical article due in the Spring. We are in the process of restructuring and reviewing the datasets published on the previous StatsWales website, with new datasets planned for the spring.

We would like to hear from users of fire data so we can better shape our future releases - please contact stats.inclusion@gov.wales.

Crime and justice

We want your feedback on our Prisons and probation and Youth justice interactive dashboards. If you use them, please contact stats.inclusion@gov.wales.

In January, we published our Road lengths and conditions: April 2024 to March 2025. We also published in January our provisional estimates for Police recorded road collisions: July to September 2025 and updated our interactive dashboard, including breakdowns such as severity of injury, type of road user and collision location on a map. Between January and March, we will be publishing monthly data on Resurfaced roads, potholes repaired and potholes prevented. In March, we will also publish our Public service vehicles (buses and taxis): April 2024 to March 2025.

Wales National Travel Survey: Preliminary 6-month data

In April 2026, Transport for Wales will publish the first set of data from the Wales National Travel Survey (WNTS). This will be preliminary headline results from the first six months of data collection (March to August 2025). The data will cover travel attitudes and behaviours, including:

• Main mode share and multimodal journeys
• Average distance travelled
• Journey purposes
• Satisfaction by transport modes
• What factors would encourage further use

Breakdowns by geography and demography will be made available where possible. 

Following publication, TfW will be holding stakeholder sessions in May / June to explain the data and offer opportunities to help further develop and improve the survey and how the resulting data is published to ensure that it meets user needs.

If you would like to be added to the WNTS stakeholder list please complete this short form.

Please feel free to share this invite with any other individuals or organisations who you think may be interested in hearing more about the survey and its results.

Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: October 2024 to September 2025 was published on 21 January. We also updated our StatsWales tables (Annual Population Survey: Welsh language).

If you have any feedback or would like further information about any aspect of our work, please email: welshlanguagedata@gov.wales.

Decarbonisation and climate change

Local authority municipal waste management : April 2024 to March 2025 was published on 29 January 2026. We also updated our StatsWales tables on waste management 

If you have any feedback or would like further information about any aspect of our work, please email: stats.environment@gov.wales.

Agriculture

Farm incomes: April 2024 to March 2025 was published on 22 January. We also updated our StatsWales tables on farming.

If you have any feedback or would like further information about any aspect of our work, please email: stats.agric@gov.wales

In January, we published Council tax dwellings in Wales. 

If you have feedback or would like further information, please email: stats.finance@gov.wales

For further information or to get in touch please email stats.popcensus@gov.wales.

General statistics enquiries

Email: stats.info.desk@gov.wales 

Tel: 0300 025 5050

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