Dr Jacob Abboud, Professor Dame Carol Propper and Penny Young today join the Board of the UK Statistics Authority as non-executive directors (NEDs). Their expertise in statistics, economics and digital transformation will help the Authority in its efforts to ensure that the UK statistical system delivers for the public good.
The new NEDs were recommended by an assessment panel led by the Authority’s Chair, Sir Robert Chote after an open competition regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Ministers have appointed each to serve a four-year term ending on 12 February 2027. They are:
- Dr Jacob Abboud is Managing Partner of Petraenovus Consulting and previously held board-level positions at Legal & General, Allianz Insurance and AXA UK & Ireland. He currently serves as a Non-Executive Director at the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service, and is a trustee at the Workforce Development Trust. A Chartered Member of the British Computer Society, Jacob holds a PhD in computer-aided engineering from the University of Bath and has a long track record of leading digital transformations in complex organisations.
- Professor Dame Carol Propper is a world-renowned economist and an expert in workforce and health statistics. She is currently Professor of Economics at Imperial College Business School in London and Monash University in Melbourne. She is a British Academy Fellow, an International Fellow of the American National Academy of Medicine, and a former President of the Royal Economic Society.
- Penny Young was until recently the Librarian and Managing Director of Research and Information at the House of Commons, where she oversaw research services for MPs, including the House of Commons Library and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), and had Board level responsibility for information risk. Prior to this she was Chief Executive of the National Centre for Social Research. She holds an MBA from Bradford University.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University and one of the country’s most high profile and respected statisticians, has also been re-appointed to the Board for a second three-year term from 27 May 2023.
Sir Robert Chote, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, said “I am delighted to welcome Jacob, Carol and Penny to the Authority’s Board, and to have David re-appointed. Their knowledge and experience will be hugely valuable to the Board in offering support and challenge to the Office for National Statistics, the Office for Statistics Regulation and the Government Statistical Service, the three pillars of the UK’s official statistical system. Together we are determined to ensure that the system delivers for the public good at a time of great opportunity and challenge.
“As our new members arrive, I would also like to thank our departing NEDs – Helen Boaden, Anne Trefethen and Jonathan Haskel – for their service and outstanding contributions. Their advice has been of great help to me in my early months as Chair, and was invaluable to the whole leadership team at the Authority during the challenging years of the pandemic. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours.”
Further information
- The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body operating at arm’s length from government as a non-ministerial department, directly accountable to Parliament. It was established on 1 April 2008 by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
- The Authority’s statutory objective is to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It is also required to promote and safeguard the quality and comprehensiveness of official statistics and ensure good practice in relation to official statistics.
- A full list of Board members and their biographies can be found on our website.
- For more information please contact the Authority Press inbox or call 03000 671 570.