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The head of the NSA resigned immediately on the grounds of “continuing health problems” as British data institutions were under fire for flaws in key economic indicators.
Sir Ian Diamond’s exit was a review of the agency’s leadership, culture and structure and a careful study of data publication following a series of errors in economic indicators.
The Office of Statistics, which runs ONS, said the national statistician resigned because health issues meant he “cannot give him all the commitment he wanted to move the organization forward”.
UKSA added on Friday that the diamond has been replaced by Emma Rourke, a national deputy statistician at the International Website (ONS).
Among some of the most sensitive data it produces, ONS has been working to solve problems, making it harder for decision makers to make decisions about how to guide the economy.
The Bank of England has been in trouble setting interest rates based on key data such as unemployment rates, given the sharp decline in response to institutional workforce surveys.
A “transformation” LFS, designed to provide decision makers with more accurate situations and suffered repeated delays, can only start at the end of 2026.
Diamond won praise during his early tenure for the way the agency responded to the needs of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said in a statement was “the honor and privilege of leading the ONS over the last five and a half years.”
But he added that the agency’s next delivery phase will require “vibrant leadership”, including the implementation of independent investigation results commissioned by the Cabinet Office and UKSA.
“My decision, unfortunately, was that due to ongoing health issues, I could not commit to the role of a national statistician I wanted and thought that now was the right time for others to pick up the baton,” Diamond said.
Last fall, an internal review of the errors that led to the collapse of the investigation found that leadership failures led to the ONS morale crisis, and poor strategic choices led to “insufficient systemic and complexity of the investigation.”
A temporary review of a wider focus on digital quality is that the Office of Statistics’ Regulations (UKSA’s regulatory authority) noted that investment in data collection is “insufficient.”
It called on ONS to take “decisive action to restore confidence”, and in less than a week the report cuts the 2025-26 budget.
Now, ONS is expanding its work in key policy areas, including measuring public sector productivity and crime against children, to focus on its core economic statistics.
Mike Keoghan, another deputy statistician of the Kuomintang, left the agency in March.
UKSA President Sir Robert Chote said Diamond showed “relative energy” and overseeed many successes during “a remarkable period of economic and social change, especially during the pandemic.”
He added that Rourke will continue to push the agency forward, “focusing on high-quality economic and demographic data in the public interest.”
