New Delhi, July 28 -- Britain's flagship labour market measure had a credibility problem.

James Benford, Director General for Surveys and Economic Statistics at ONS, said this week that artificial intelligence now sits at the centre of the recovery effort. Bloomberg reported on Monday that the agency believes AI can help it repair statistical integrity that took years to erode - a judgment that marks a significant shift in how a traditionally conservative statistical office describes its own modernisation.

"Putting quality ahead of quantity, and credibility ahead of volume, remains a guiding principle," Benford wrote in an ONS July 15 progress update, the most candid public accounting of the recovery effort since data problems began sur...