Public body The UK Statistics Authority has appointed economist and broadcaster Andrew Dilnot CBE as its new Chair for the next five years, succeeding Sir Michael Scholar KCB whose term came to an end on 31 March.

Established in 2008, The UK Statistics Authority promotes the production and publication of official statistics. Its two main functions are oversight of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and independent scrutiny of all official statistics produced in the UK.

After graduating from Oxford, Dilnot joined the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), and between 1991 and 2002 he served as its Director. He is currently Principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, but will leave in September to take up the post of Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford.

He is the founding presenter of BBC Radio 4’s series on numbers and statistics ‘More or Less’, and has co-authored a book called ‘The Tiger That Isn’t: seeing through a world of numbers’, a study of the role and use of statistics.

In 2010, Dilnot took a sabbatical from St Hugh’s College to chair the government’s Commission on Funding of Care and Support, which last summer, published primary recommendations to limit individuals’ contributions to social care costs.

He was awarded a CBE in 2000 for services to economics and economic policy.

Commenting on his new appointment, Dilnot said: ‘I care very much about official statistics; not just about the numbers themselves but about the ways in which they are used and interpreted. Statistics are vital in helping all of us understand the world around us; and almost all the decisions that we make are, or can be, informed by statistics. If statistics are trusted they will be used and valued.’

He added that as Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, he will not shy away from publicly intervening to identify bad practice where improvement is required in the public interest.

Dilnot paid tribute to his predecessor, Sir Michael Scholar, who he said had established the authority as ‘a most important and independent regulatory body’.

Web site: www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk .

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