POLICY AND PRACTICE - Covid and the Use and Abuse of Statistics

Official statistics and evidence have been central in ensuring that the government has the best possible data, not just on infections and deaths, but on social behaviour, the impact on the economy, etc. As chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir David Norgrove is responsible for safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics: he will discuss how data and statistics evolved during the pandemic, and the strengths and weaknesses of the way Government handled the data.Sir David Norgrove is a businessman and government official, who has been chair of the UK Statistics Authority since 2017. The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body which oversees the Office for National Statistics, the Office for Statistics Regulation, and the Government Statistical Service. He was previously the first chairman of The Pensions Regulator, and then chair of the Low Pay Commission. ACCOMPANYING SLIDES