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11 February 2022

Professor Martin Weale to chair new committee advising on the UK's official economic statistics

Appointment is part of new governance arrangements put in place following withdrawal from Eurostat

MartinonKBSBackground

Professor Martin Weale has been appointed as the first Chair of the National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics. This is a new committee created to strengthen the governance arrangements for official economic statistics following the UK’s exit from the European statistical system.

The National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics will support the UK National Statistician and Office of National Statistics in decisions about statistical standards. The committee’s remit will span the full range of economic statistics, including the National Accounts, fiscal statistics, prices, trade and the balance of payments and labour market statistics.

Economic measurement is a key focus of research for academics at King’s. King’s Business School hosts the Directorship of the UK Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE). King’s research for ESCoE has encompassed a wide range of measures, including work by Professor Weale to help improve the granularity of GDP data and to develop an indicator of income growth that reflects changes in income distribution.

It is an honour to be appointed to chair this important new committee. Good statistics are vital to economic decision making and public confidence in them is essential. I am looking forward to playing my part in ensuring that the way we produce economic statistics in the UK remains robust and is at the same time responsive to the potential of new approaches.

Professor Martin Weale

Martin is Professor of Economics at King's Business School. He was Director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee from 2010 to 2016. Martin is a member of the Office for National Statistic’s Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) and the Economic Experts Working Group (EEWG). He is also a member of the Business School’s Qatar Centre for Global Banking & Finance, a research centre dedicated to the study of central banks and the challenges they face.

You can read the official announcement on the UK Statistics Authority website.

Find out more about the work of the UK Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence.

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Martin Weale

Professor of Economics