National Statistician’s Inclusive Data Advisory Committee

2025

• 28 January
• 26 February
• 12 March

Minutes and papers

Dame Julia Cleverdon, DCVO, CBE

Specialist topics:

• education,
• business,
• community

Julia is a passionate and practical campaigner who has gained an international reputation for ‘connecting the unconnected’, inspiring individuals and organisations to work together for the common good in the most challenged communities.

During her tenure as Chief Executive of Business in the Community from 1991 to 2007, Julia worked closely with the President HRH The Prince of Wales in building a movement of 850 member companies. Julia later served as Special Adviser to The Prince of Wales’s Charities and focused efforts on disadvantaged communities.

Julia co-founded Step Up To Serve (#iwill), a campaign which was set up to make meaningful social action a part of life for young people across the UK. As Chair of Teach First from 2007 to 2014, and now Vice Patron, Julia has pioneered efforts to address educational disadvantage. She serves on the Careers and Enterprise Company and Youth Futures Foundation boards, is Deputy Chair of the Fair Education Alliance, and has just stepped down as Chair of the National Literacy Trust. Julia also chairs Transform Society, which aims to inspire a generation towards public service. She is Patron of Right to Succeed and chairs Place Matters.

Professor Anthony Heath, CBE, FBA, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College

Specialist topics:

• social mobility,
• class and educational opportunity,
• nationalism and identity

Anthony was the founding Director of the Centre for Social Investigation at Nuffield College, Oxford. He is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Oxford and Professor of Sociology at Manchester University. He has interests in social mobility, ethnicity, religion, refugees and migrants and non-household population groups. As a member of the Inclusive Data Taskforce (IDTF) Anthony was particularly interested in ethnicity and religion, and data on residents of communal establishments. Anthony proposed the development of a ‘social contract’ (recommendation 1.1 from the IDTF) and advocated for the harmonisation of socio-economic background. He also works closely as an Adviser to the Social Mobility Commission.

Professor Uzo Iwobi, OBE, CBE, Chief Executive of Race Council Cymru

Specialist topics:

• ethnicity,
• justice

Uzo is Chief Executive of Race Council Cymru, Lead for Black History Wales and Coordinator for Black Lives Matter Wales Collective following the completion of her contract as Specialist Policy Adviser to Welsh Government.

Professor Iwobi became the first international chair of diversity at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has been appointed to the following Boards: University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Academi Wales at Welsh Government and Chinese in Wales Association.

Uzo also became a Wales representative Board Member of the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (which includes Oxford and Cambridge Universities) and was made an Honorary Fellow of Bridgend College.

Originally from Nigeria, Uzo holds a law degree from the University of Nigeria and she qualified as a solicitor and a barrister and was called to the Nigerian Bar.

Uzo has also served with the Police National Diversity team, based at the Home Office, where she was involved in developing national policies on race relations and diversity.

Professor Evelyn Collins, CBE, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Equal Rights Trust

Specialist topics:

• gender equality,
• equal rights,
• equalities law in Northern Ireland

Professor Evelyn Collins CBE is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Equal Rights Trust and a Trustee on the Board of the Abraham Initiatives UK. Since May 2023, Evelyn has been an Honorary Professor at Queen’s University Belfast where she contributes to the work of its School of Law. She was appointed as Chair of the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland in January 2024.

Evelyn was Chief Executive of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland from March 2000 to February 2023 and Chair of the Board of Equinet, the European Network of Equality Bodies, from October 2013 to October 2017.

Evelyn is a law graduate of Sheffield University and has Masters’ degrees from the University of Toronto (Criminology) and Queen’s University Belfast (Human Rights and Discrimination Law).

Evelyn has worked on equality issues since the 1980s, mostly in Northern Ireland but also as a national expert working on gender equality in the European Commission in Brussels and more widely through her engagement with Equinet and various EU projects.

Evelyn was a member of the European Commission’s Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men from 1992 to 2020, serving as its President in 2005.  Evelyn also served on the Board of the Chief Executives’ Forum in Northern Ireland from 2014 to 2020 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Evelyn was awarded the CBE in 2008, for services to the public in Northern Ireland.

In July 2014, the University of Ulster awarded Evelyn the honorary degree of Doctor of Law (LLD) for her contribution to the promotion of equality and good relations.

Professor Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh

Specialist topics:

• data ethics,
• data innovation,
• technology and data ethics,
• intercultural digital ethics

Shannon is the Baillie Gifford Professor in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence in the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy. She serves as Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute and is a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute. Professor Vallor’s research explores how emerging technologies reshape human moral and intellectual character, and maps the ethical challenges and opportunities posed by new uses of data and artificial intelligence (AI).

Professor Vallor’s work includes advising academia, government and industry on the ethical design and use of AI. Her current projects examine responsibility gaps in the governance of autonomous systems, as part of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems programme. She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press, 2016) and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology (2022). She is the recipient of multiple awards for teaching, scholarship and public engagement, including the 2015 World Technology Award in Ethics and the 2022 Covey Award from the International Association of Computing and Philosophy.

Sir Tom Shakespeare, CBE, Sociologist and Bioethicist, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Specialist Topics:

• disability,
• communications,
• health

Tom trained in social and political sciences at Cambridge University and subsequently studied for an MPhil and Phd. He has taught and researched at the Universities of Sunderland, Leeds, Newcastle and East Anglia. From 2008 to 2013, Tom was a technical officer at the World Health Organisation, Geneva, where he co-authored and co-edited the ‘World Report on Disability’ (2011) and ‘International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury’ (2014).

Tom’s books include: ‘The Sexual Politics of Disability’ (1996); ‘Disability Rights and Wrongs’ (2006; 2014); ‘Disability – the Basics’ (2017).

Tom was a member of Arts Council England (2003 to 2008) and Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2013 to 2019). Tom is chair of Light for the World UK, and vice-chair of Light for the World International. Tom is a regular contributor to BBC Radio and writes regularly for The Lancet.

Si Chun Lam, Head of Research, Intelligence and Inclusive Growth at West Midlands Combined Authority 

Specialist topics:

• Inclusive growth, 
• Public health intelligence

Si Chun is the Head of Research, Intelligence, and Inclusive Growth at the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), tasked with bringing together the research and intelligence expertise across the West Midlands to build a better connected, more prosperous, fairer, greener and healthier West Midlands. 

Before joining the WMCA, Si Chun worked for Coventry City Council in a variety of roles, most recently, leading Coventry’s research, insight, and intelligence function. In this role, Si Chun transformed the Council’s approach to insight, analysis, and data through the development of a citywide intelligence hub and a ‘One Coventry’ approach to performance management. Through nurturing partnerships with local universities, Si Chun championed the development of a flourishing research and intelligence ecosystem in the city.  

Si Chun has contributed to the national conversation on the power of research and intelligence to make a positive impact on our society. Outside of paid employment, Si Chun is part of the Economy of Francesco, a global movement of economists, entrepreneurs and change-makers working to create an economy that works for everyone, with nobody left behind.  

Si Chun completed a master’s degree in Social Sciences Research at Loughborough University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Development at the University of Bath.  

Si Chun is originally from Hong Kong and is proud and passionate about the amazing potential of the West Midlands. In the past year Si Chun volunteered as a City Host for Coventry’s year as the UK City of Culture, and as a performer for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies

Lela Kogbara, Co-director, Place Matters

Specialist topics:

• equality,
• inclusion,
• employment

Lela has spent most of her personal and professional life trying to shift the needle on inequality and injustice. She is currently a co-director of Place Matters, which seeks to enable communities to take action within a place, inform a collaborative movement of place-based change, and influence the wider system through evidence, insight and learning.

She was previously a senior leader in the public sector for 25 years, including as an accountant in children’s services and assistant director responsible for data and ethnic minority achievement. She spent 16 of in the London Borough of Islington where she was Assistant Chief Executive until 2016. She had responsibility for a range of services including corporate policy and performance, communications, equalities, employment, adult and community learning, community safety, arts and culture and voluntary sector grants.

Lela was also previously advisor to Department of Education and NHS England and co-founder and director of Black Thrive Global. She is currently on the board of Social Finance, a trustee of DFN Project Search and The Liliesleaf Trust UK and on the advisory board of the British American Project.

Nitesh Prakash, Partner at Bain & Company

Specialist topics:

• equality,
• inclusion,
• sustainability,
• energy and natural resources

Nitesh Prakash is a partner based in Bain & Company’s London office, where he is a leader in the firm’s Energy and Natural Resources and Sustainability practices.

Nitesh has accumulated a wealth of international experience advising and leading clients across the UK, Australia, India, the Middle East, South Africa and the US.

Beyond his client work, he plays an important role as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D, E&I) Leader at Bain & Company in the UK, and sits on the UK D, E&I steering committee. Nitesh is passionate and keen to further the agenda on DE&I, and is active in furthering the Racial equity agenda.

He currently mentors several minority ethnic professionals, and is involved with BITC to collectively push forward the agenda on creating equal opportunities for Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other ethnically diverse individuals seeking to enter and thrive in the UK workplace. Further, he is actively pushing the agenda on Equal Parental Leave in the UK workplace.

• Professor Jenny Gibson (from 12 September 2022 to 28 January 2025)
• Sam Freedman (from 12 September 2022 to 11 December 2024)
• Tina Chui (from 12 September 2022 to 11 December 2024)
• Dr Milly Zimeta (from 12 September 2022 to 13 November 2024)