The Bank of England (BoE) is creating a "data-crunching" unit to help it form a wider picture of the UK economy, it emerged on Wednesday.The BoE has recruited former Barclays foreign exchange research chief Paul Robinson to head up a small data analysis team, news agency Bloomberg cited a spokesman for the BoE as saying.As well as data from the Office for National Statistics and other established sources, the team will gather and analyse other potentially useful data that the BoE does not currently use.Economists said it would help the BoE to underpin its interest rate decisions with broader economic judgements.The BoE has faced criticism in the past for focusing too much on month-to-month rate decisions instead of taking a wider economic view.The new unit is one of two that the BoE is creating as part of a drive by BoE Governor Mark Carney to streamline the bank's departments.Robinson will become the BoE's new Head of Advanced Analytics with responsibility for the data team, while a Head of Research, who is yet to be appointed, will run the second unit, according to Bloomberg.PW