Meet the Board

The Chair of the UK Statistics Authority is Sir Michael Scholar KCB. Sir Michael was appointed Chair of the Authority by Her Majesty in September 2007 following open competition, and with parliamentary approval.

Seven other non-executive members were appointed through open competition, some  after consultation with the devolved administrations. The non-executive members are Lord Rowe-Beddoe of Kilgetty (who occupies the Deputy Chair post with responsibility for the governance of ONS), Professor Adrian Smith (who occupies the Deputy Chair post with responsibility for promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of all official statistics across the UK), Professor David Rhind, Partha Dasgupta, Sir Alan Langlands, Moira Gibb and Professor Steve Nickell.

The Authority has three executive members. They are Karen Dunnell (the National Statistician), Richard Alldritt (the Authority's Head of Assessment) and Steve Newman (Director of Finance at ONS).

The National Statistician is a Crown appointment, as the Chief Professional Adviser to the Authority and government on statistical matters. The National Statistician is Head of the Government Statistical Service, and is also the Authority's Chief Executive with responsibility for ONS.

The Head of Assessment is a statutory post as the principal adviser to the Authority on the scrutiny of official statistics in pursuit of the Authority’s objectives.