Sir Robert Chote has resigned as chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, amid ongoing concern over the accuracy of the data produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which it oversees.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has criticised the ONS for the reliability of its employment data on which it bases its monetary policy, including interest rates.
Sir Robert, who succeeded Sir David Norgrove in June 2022, had two years left on his term of office. He will become president of Trinity College, Oxford in September.
Announcing Sir Robert’s resignation, Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden said “new leadership was critical” to address “the challenges identified and rapidly restore confidence in the statistics produced by ONS that underpin decision-making”.
The Cabinet Office’s most senior civil servant Catherine Little said in a letter to Parliament’s Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee that a new chair would be “in a more credible position” to act on the findings of the investigation.
A senior Cabinet Office source denied the government had put pressure on Sir Robert to leave but said it was “hard to make effective government policy if you don’t have statistics that have integrity”.
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