The head of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has resigned because “ongoing health issues” mean he could not give the organisation the “full commitment” required to drive it forward.
Sir Ian Diamond, who was appointed the UK’s national statistician in 2019, has stepped down with immediate effect, the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) said in a statement, and has been replaced by the ONS’s health statistician Emma Rourke.
Rourke will take on the day-to-day running of the body – which is coming under intense scrutiny over the reliability of some of its most important economic indicators – while the UKSA looks for a longer term replacement.
UKSA chair Sir Robert Chote thanked Diamond for his “tireless energy and passionate dedication” in a statement.
“He has overseen many successes over his tenure during a remarkable period of economic and societal change,” he added.
Diamond’s resignation comes at a critical juncture for the UK’s main statistics body. Its labour market data – used to measure unemployment levels – has drawn the ire of Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and several other top economists for its inconsistency.
A sharp decline in response rates since the pandemic – which Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill attributed to people no longer answering the phone – has made it difficult for rate-setters and other policymakers to get an accurate picture of the jobs market.
In April, the government revealed it had asked former mandarin Sir Robert Devereux to conduct a probe into the ONS in an attempt to root out the causes of its unreliable datasets.
The investigation’s remit covers the statistics body’s leadership, culture and structure, following several high-profile data mishaps, including publication delays and errors in key economic indicators.
Diamond, whose tenure included steering the ONS through the pandemic, said it had been an “honour and a privilege” to lead the body over the past five and a half years.
He added: “The next phase of delivery for the ONS will continue to require energetic leadership, including overseeing the implementation of the Devereux Review findings.
“Unfortunately, I have made the decision that, due to ongoing health issues, I am unable to give the commitment to the role of national statistician that I would like to and feel that it is the right time for somebody else to pick up the baton.”
