Sir Ian Diamond Named UK's National Statistician

Professor Sir Ian Diamond has been appointed as the UK's National Statistician, succeeding John Pullinger, who retired at the end of June. Sir Ian will take up his new position on a full-time basis on 22 October 2019.

Most recently, Sir Ian served as Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, and prior to that, he held the role of CEO of the Economic and Social Research Council, Chair of the Research Councils UK Executive Group, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy, Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Academy of Social Sciences. In addition, Sir Ian served as Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Committee from August 2018 until his appointment as National Statistician, and he was a non-executive Director at the UK Statistics Authority Board until his appointment as National Statistician.

In the role of National Statistician, Sir Ian will serve as CEO of the UK Statistics Authority, Permanent Secretary of the Office for National Statistics and Head of the Government Statistical Service. He will also be an executive member of the Board of the UK Statistics Authority. Sir David Norgrove, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, commented: 'I am delighted that we have appointed Sir Ian as the UK Statistics Authority's new Chief Executive and National Statistician. Ian brings with him enormous professional experience and particular expertise in census design and analysis. I would like to record my warm thanks for John Pullinger's exemplary leadership of the Statistical Service over the last five years as National Statistician before his recent retirement. We have valued enormously John's professional wise counsel and wish him well for the future,'

Pullinger announced his retirement in May, having begun his career as an Assistant Statistician at the Department of Trade and Industry, then worked at the Department of the Environment and the Office of Manpower Economics, before becoming Director of Policy and Planning at the Central Statistical Office, where he helped to create the Office for National Statistics. He was subsequently editor of the Social Trends publication, a member of the ONS management Board, and in 2004 became the 14th Librarian of the House of Commons. He was appointed as a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 2014 New Year's Honours list.

Web sites: www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk and www.ons.gov.uk .