New role for Honorary Fellow Professor Denise Lievesley

Professor Denise Lievesley has been appointed by the Cabinet Office to lead an independent review of the UK Statistics Authority. The Authority includes the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is the country’s largest producer of official statistics on a range of key economic, social and demographic topics.

Denise has been tasked with establishing how the organisation is performing and providing independent challenges, to ensure that the Authority is effectively delivering necessary services, that it is doing so as efficiently as possible, and that it has clear governance and lines of accountability.

The review will report to Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister of State, Cabinet Office and will be organised according to the four quadrants identified by the Public Bodies Review Programme – Efficacy, Accountability, Governance, and Efficiency. Denise will be supported by relevant subject matter experts and is expected to publish a final report in late 2023.

Denise said of her appointment,

‘Our experiences during the last years have reinforced the need for trusted and trustworthy official statistics. We needed sound and timely data for tracking the pandemic’s spread and its impact not just regarding health but also the education, economic and social well-being of the population.

‘This review comes at a critical time for us to build on this momentum in the statistical system. There are many additional drivers of change including the increased availability of digital administrative data sources, new technological opportunities, and pressure to decrease the administrative burden on businesses of compliance with statistical enquiries.

‘I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the UK’s statistical system through this review.’

UK Statistics Authority Chair Sir Robert Chote said,

‘Professor Lievesley will bring both great expertise and international perspective to the task. We look forward to engaging with her and hearing her conclusions, which I have no doubt will help us to deliver on our mission of delivering statistics for the public good.’

Professor Denise Lievesley CBE is an Honorary Fellow of Green Templeton College, having been Principal of Green Templeton from 2015 until September 2020.

Among her former appointments, Denise was Chief Executive of the English Health and Social Care Information Centre; Director of Statistics at UNESCO, where she founded the Institute for Statistics; and Director of the UK Data Archive. She served as Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society (1999 to 2001), and International Statistical Institute (2007 to 2009) and of the International Association for Official Statistics (1995 to 1997).

Green Templeton congratulates Denise on this appointment and wishes her well with the review.