Pullinger named new stats boss
JOHN Pullinger was yesterday named as chief executive of the UK Statistics Authority, the country’s national statistician.
Pullinger is currently House of Commons librarian and director general, a role he will leave to join the UK Statistics Authority in July.
Those who have been watching this job opening have been expecting a candidate with a good deal of economics experience to replace Jil Matheson.
Pullinger brings that in spades to a job requiring him to oversee around 30 government departments. He says that he is now keen to take “the work of the Authority to a new level, mobilising the power of data to help Britain make better decisions”.
A grand overhaul of how the UK’s statistics are compiled is already scheduled for later this year. The UK will have to shift from ESA 95 standards to the new ESA 2010 ones in September, bringing with them some major changes in how we conceptualise our economic landscape.
Before his current job, Pullinger held a number of positions within the Government Statistical Service, at the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of the Environment, the Central Statistical Office, and as a director at the Office for National Statistics.