Official Statistics Committee

The Official Statistics Committee is a committee organised by the Royal Statistical Society to monitor official government statistics produced in the United Kingdom. It was set up by Sir Harry Campion in 1958, when he was President of the Royal Statistical Society; he later chaired it himself. The committee has had many distinguished members, and the chairmanship is regarded as a great honour.

The committee holds regular public meetings at which senior statisticians from the Office for National Statistics, the Bank of England and other government departments and official bodies explain statistics they produce or methods they use, and have to justify them to the audience.

Recent topics discussed include house price measures, seasonal adjustment and methodology for the 2011 Census.

List of chairmen[edit]

1958-62 Sir Roy Allen
1962-5 Sir Richard Doll
1965-8 Frank Yates, CBE
1968-72 Sir Harry Campion
1972-5 Michael Israel Michaels
1975-7 Reginald Beales, CBE
1977-80 Sir Austin Bradford Hill
1980-1983 Prof. Sir Maurice Kendall
1983-6 Martin Fessey, CB
1986-8 Sir John Boreham
1988-92 Philip Redfern, CB
1992-6 John Erritt, CB
1996-8 Roger Thatcher, CB
1998-9 Rita Maurice
1999-2003 Frank Whitehead
2003-6 Christopher Nuttall
2006-9 Reg Ward
2009-13 Philip Turnbull

Some other prominent members[edit]