The UK Statistics Authority warmly welcomes the appointment of Professor Sir Roger Jowell as Deputy Chair (Statistical System) and non-executive member of the UK Statistics Authority with effect from 11 November 2008.

The Deputy Chair (Statistical System) serves as chair of the Authority’s Committee for Official Statistics which advises the Authority in its regulatory role in relation to the UK’s official statistics system as a whole.

Speaking today, Sir Michael Scholar, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, welcomed Sir Roger’s appointment:

“I am delighted that Roger Jowell has been appointed to the Board of the UK Statistics Authority and I warmly welcome him to the role of Deputy Chair with responsibility for oversight of the UK statistical system.

“Roger has an international reputation in social statistics and survey measurement. The Authority will benefit enormously from his expertise, in particular his insight into the world of official statistics and his great experience of statistical surveys and social research.

“As chair of the Authority’s Committee for Official Statistics, Roger will provide strategic oversight for the official statistics system as a whole, including the allocation of resources to statistical work, the production of statistics, and the communication of those statistics in the public interest.

“I very much look forward to working with him.”

The post of Deputy Chair (Statistical System) is one of two Authority Deputy Chair posts. It was formerly occupied by Professor Adrian Smith FRS. The post of Deputy Chair (Office for National Statistics) is held by Lord Rowe-Beddoe of Kilgetty.

For more information regarding the subject of this Press Release please contact: 07990 795693, 07971 186710 or 07786 892263

Notes for Editors:

  1. Professor Sir Roger Mark Jowell CBE is a British social statistician and academic. He was born in South Africa in 1942. In 1969, Roger Jowell and Gerald Hoinville founded Social and Community Planning Research (SCPR), which is now the London-based National Centre for Social Research, well-known for its British Social Attitudes surveys and the conduct of many government survey series.
  2. Roger Jowell is now a Research Professor at City University London and is the Founder Director of its Centre for Comparative Social Surveys from where he runs the 34-nation European Social Survey. He is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, an Academician of the Academy for Social Sciences and he was awarded a CBE in 2001 for services to social science. In 2005 he and his team won the Descartes Prize “for excellence in collaborative scientific research” – the first social scientists to win this coveted award. He is a recent Vice-President of the Royal Statistical Society and he was knighted for services to social sciences in the 2008 New Year’s Honours.
  3. Sir Roger’s main research output has been in the field of social and political attitude monitoring and survey methods. He founded and directed the British Social Attitudes survey from 1983 to 2001 and co-directed the British Election Study from 1983 to 2000. Professor Jowell was the founding chair of the International Social Survey Programme from 1984 to 1989. He has been the Co-ordinator of the European Social Survey since its inception in 2001, having shaped its initial design.. Roger Jowell’s publications have focused primarily on social and political values, social change, voting behaviour and survey methods. Other publications include a textbook on survey research, 18 edited books on British Social Attitudes and four co-authored books on British electoral behaviour.
  4. Professor Sir Roger Jowell succeeds Professor Adrian Smith who stepped down from the Authority on 31 August 2008 on his appointment as Director General, Science & Research at the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.
  5. Sir Michael Scholar KCB was appointed Chair of the UK Statistics Authority in September 2007 in open competition and with parliamentary approval under the new arrangements. He is President of St John’s College, Oxford. He has been a governor of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research since 2001. Previously he was Permanent Secretary to the Department of Trade and Industry (1996 to 2001), Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Office (1993 to 1996) and Private Secretary to the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1981 to 1983).
  6. The non-executive members of the Authority, also appointed in open competition, are:Lord Rowe-Beddoe of Kilgetty (David Rowe-Beddoe), who occupies the post of Deputy Chair with responsibility for advising the Authority on the governance of the Office for National Statistics.Professor Sir Roger Jowell CBE, who will occupy the Deputy Chair post with responsibility for advising the Authority on its responsibility for promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of all official statistics across the UK.

    Professor David Rhind CBE, FRS, FBA who was Chairman of the Statistics Commission and was Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the City University in London until July 2007. He is a non-executive director of the Bank of England’s Court of Directors, and until 1998 was Director-General of the Ordnance Survey.

    Partha Dasgupta who is currently Chief Executive of the Pension Protection Fund and a former Managing Director at Barclays Global Investors.

    Sir Alan Langlands FRSE who is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee. He was Chief Executive of the National Health Service in England between 1994 and 2000.

    Moira Gibb CBE who is Chief Executive Officer of the London Borough of Camden

    Professor Steve Nickell CBE, FBA who is Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford. He was a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee from June 2000 to May 2006.

  7. The Authority also includes three executive members. These are: the National Statistician, Karen Dunnell; the Head of Assessment, Richard Alldritt; and Finance Director, Office for National Statistics, Steve Newman.