MrPaul Allin

It's been a great honour and hugely enjoyable to have been a Visiting Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, between 2012 and 2026,

This was a great opportuntiy to research and write about official statistics. This has included some teaching about the role and use of official statistics. I was also the Royal Statistical Society's Honorary Officer for National Statistics and a member of the National Statistician's Expert User Advisory Committee (NSEUAC).

My research interest is especially the measurement of national wellbeing, measures that go beyond traditional economic statistics such as GDP to include quality of life and environmental sustainability. These measures need to be set in the context of 'public statistics', which are those needed to help answer questions about society, the economy, and the environment by drawing on existing statistics and devising new ones where necessary.

Do look at my 2022 article on Beyond GDP with Diane Coyle and Tim Jackson on The Conversation website here.

When I stood down from tne NSEUAC in June 2026, I was invited to reflect on my over 50 year association with UK and international official statistics. A short summary of this is given in the minutes of the meeting. I will paste full text below.

Short Bio
I retired in 2012 from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) after a career as a professional statistician and researcher in a wide range of government economic and social policy departments, including those dealing with the labour market, health and safety, equal opportunities, the national economic accounts, and culture, media and sport. I also managed several programmes and projects concerned with developments to statistical systems, including options for a population register and alternatives to a mid-decade census. My final post was as director of the measuring national wellbeing programme in the ONS. I have a BSc Hons in Mathematics and an MSc in Statistics from the University of Manchester and have been a Chartered Statistician since 1993.

Since retiring, my pro-bono work has been through the Royal Statistical Society and I have also chaired the Statistics User Forum and the advisory group of the What Works Centre for Wellbeing.

Mr Paul Allin, C.Stat, FRSA

July 2026

Reflections on over 50 years in official statistics, offered at NSEUAC meeting in June 2026

Thank you for the opportunity to reflect on my involvement in official statistics. It’s been hugely satisfying to have contributed to statistics for the public good. That’s what attracted me to government statistics and continued to be my passion.

Over 50 years ago I started as a cadet statistician, which meant a post-graduate course in statistics, work experience in the then CSO, leading to my first permanent post.

Forty years later I retired from what was then ONS, having worked in-between in four other government organisations and, through the RSS, a long involvement with the series of statistics users’ councils.

It has also been great to have had a second career for the last 14 years as a visiting professor in statistics at Imperial College London. Very honoured to have had this opportunity to research, teach, and write about official statistics in society, particularly in collaboration with David Hand.

Also to have been a member of NSEUAC from its creation and to have played a role as the RSS’s honorary officer for public statistics, as well as many other ad hoc interactions with the UK and EU official statistical systems.

There have, of course, been sweeping changes since 1973. Back then, apart from being able to see Peter Cook and Dudley Moore on stage in Behind the Fridge, entering work meant going into an environment where computing was only on off-site mainframes, data collected on paper forms, memos were typed (and cc did mean carbon copy), hardcopy publications, and no websites.

There were also far fewer statistics in the public domain published by other organisations. Those that were around were quite likely given official imprimatur by being included in the CSO’s annual volume Social Trends. CSO and the wider GSS, along with the BBC, were gatekeepers to information in the public sphere.

We all know about the information revolution that has happened and which is still being driven by technological developments. And how the public sphere has fragmented. More data but not necessarily better data.

CSO was literally at the heart of government, as part of the Cabinet Office. We’ve now got the Statistics Act, UKSA, ONS, GSS, OSR. More independence for statistics but perhaps statisticians are less often to be found around the important tables.

We are, in so many ways, in a different world from that of the mid-1970s. And yet, some aspects of official statistics have hardly changed: For example:

·       > The topics that are covered and how they are ranked in importance. Yes, there appears to be more resources devoted to official statistics and there has been a massive increase in the number of releases and datasets, but the broad profile is slow to change.

·       > There are known gaps and demands for new statistics, but unless there is a clear government requirement to fill those gaps, they get low priority.

·       >Processes and practices to reach out and engage with users beyond those in government and related institutions. There are good intentions and corporate efforts but these never quite seem to get the traction they need to progress – last year’s UK Statistics Assembly is but the latest example.

Has it been helpful to have had the goal of official statistics for the public good enshrined in the UN Fundamental Principles and (post Rayner) in the 2007 Statistics Act?

Well, the RSS noted in 2024 (17 years on from the UK Act) that there remains “an innate – and understandable – tendency for producers of official statistics to prioritise government users over other users”. In doing so, statisticians can rightly be confident that they are working towards the public good by assisting the development and delivery of public policy.

But while this is necessary it will not always be sufficient to fully serve the public good – what about public interest questions on the performance of government, and on issues that are not current government priorities, where relevant statistics are less forthcoming?

For example, it seems to me that government generally, and official statistics in particular, are some way behind public concerns about man-made environmental damage and climate change.

Underpinning this are mindsets and organisational cultures that official statistics producers share with other civil servants. These can be good for the continuity and stability of administration, but with the downside of stifling innovation and change.

It may no longer be The Man from Whitehall, but there is still a tendency for public officials to know best. So, when engagement with users is limited to consulting them, before withdrawing, deciding and implementing a statistical programme, then we are still some way from a more open, transparent, and co-produced agenda for statistics for the public good.

There is more to do to release even more public value from our official statistics system, which is such vital and important piece of national infrastructure.

Thank you for listening. I wish you all the best as you continue to take this forward.

Paul Allin