Leadership team

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is an Executive Agency of the UK Statistics Authority. It is led by the National Statistician and reports into the UK Statistics Authority Board.

Sir Ian Diamond – National Statistician and Permanent Secretary

Sir Ian is the UK's National Statistician, Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, Head of the Government Statistical Service (GSS) and Head of the Government Analytical Function (AF). He provides overall leadership for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the statistics profession and analytical function across government.  Sir Ian is the government's chief adviser on statistics.

Professor Sir Ian David Diamond, FBA, FRSE, FAcSS is the former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen. His previous roles include Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council, Chair of the Research Councils UK Executive Group, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton and Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Committee.

Sam Beckett - Second Permanent Secretary

Sam is Second Permanent Secretary and Deputy CEO of the UK Statistics Authority and Joint Head of the Government Economics Service, a role she shares with Clare Lombardelli, Chief Economic Advisor at HM Treasury. In assisting with the overall leadership of the Office for National Statistics, Sam has responsibility for Economic, Social and Environmental Statistics, People and Business Services, Communications, Data Protection, and Security and Information Management.

Sam was previously at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) where she served as Acting Permanent Secretary. Prior to that Sam worked in the Cabinet Office where she was Director of the Economic and Domestic Secretariat. Before that she was Director of Fiscal Group in HM Treasury leading the fiscal policy response to the financial crisis and the government's engagement with the credit rating agencies on the UK's sovereign rating. Sam has 25 years' experience in BEIS, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury in roles spanning micro and macro-economics, strategy, policy and corporate services delivery.

Rob Bumpstead – Chief of Staff

Rob is the chief of staff to the National Statistician and Deputy Director for the central policy secretariat. Rob is the main advisor on all statistical matters to the senior leadership and is responsible for policy development, governance, and international presence.

Rob has extensive policy, international and statistical experience from across the civil service.

Economic, Social and Environmental Statistics

Mike Keoghan – Deputy National Statistician and Director General for Economic, Social and Environmental Statistics

Mike leads on the development, production, and communication of key statistics on the UK’s economy and society. He oversees the creation of innovative radical approaches to measure the economy, environment, and society as we seek to produce relevant and trusted statistics across the UK that support the organisation in delivery on the UKSA strategy.

Mike was previously at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) where he served as Acting Director General for Business Sectors and the Chief Economic Advisor.

Grant Fitzner – Chief Economist and Director, Macroeconomic Statistics and Analysis

Grant oversees the production and analysis of the ONS economic statistics, including prices, public sector finance, productivity, trade and the balance of payments. He also advises the National Statistician on economic matters.

Grant is an experienced economist who has held a range of public and private sector roles, including economic adviser to the Australian Government and director of analysis and chief economist at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Darren Morgan – Director of Economic Statistics Production and Analysis

Darren leads the production and analysis of the UK’s official estimates of the Labour Market and the country’s National and Regional Accounts, He is also responsible for the range of monthly output economic indicators and annual surveys produced and conducted by the ONS. Darren is also ONS’s Head at the Darlington Economic Campus.

Darren has previously led the development and production of various economic outputs, such as inflation, trade and balance of payments and has Chaired Economic Expert Groups at the United Nations and the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development.

Donna Leong – Director of Economic Statistics Change

Donna is responsible for the transformation of economic statistics, including the production of new ‘faster indicators’ to provide greater real-time insights into the UK economy, transforming our labour market statistics using a combination of administrative data from government and new, flexible surveys, and the development of detailed country, regional and local economic data.

Donna was previously at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial strategy as Director for Economic Partnerships and has extensive experience in fiscal and monetary policy.

Liz McKeown – Director of Public Policy Analysis

Liz leads the development of public policy statistics and analysis, covering population, migration, crime, living standards, housing, and environmental issues, such as net zero and sustainability. Liz is also responsible for the Analysis Function within the ONS.

Before joining the ONS, Liz held senior roles in government, including Chief Economist at the Cabinet Office.

Osama Rahman - Director of the Data Science Campus

Osama leads the Data Science Campus, a UK and international hub to gain practical advantage from the increased investment in data science capability.

He was previously the Department for Education’s (DfE) Chief Analyst and Chief Scientific Adviser for four and a half years where he was responsible for the provision of analytical and scientific advice to ministers and senior officials.

Before joining DfE, Osama spent fourteen and a half years at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), a year at the Civil Aviation Authority, and 10 years as a lecturer and senior lecturer in economics at various UK universities.

Health, Population & Methods

Pete Benton – Deputy National Statistician and Director General for Health, Population & Methods

Pete leads all aspects of health and population statistics, including the dissemination of the Census and delivery of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey. Pete is also responsible for transforming the methodology that underpins our surveys and statistics.

Pete has experience in data, major programme delivery and operations management. He has held several senior roles at the ONS, including Interim Deputy National Statistician for Population and Public Policy and Director of Census 2021 Operations.

Emma Rourke – Director of Health Analysis and Pandemic Insight

Emma leads the health analysis and pandemic insights teams, prior to this Emma was the director of public policy analysis. Emma’s brief covers statistics on health, life events, insights from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey and the School Infection Survey.

Before joining the ONS, Emma held senior roles in the health sector, including Director of Intelligence at the Care Quality Commission.

Sarah Henry – Director of Methodology and Quality

Sarah oversees the statistical methods and techniques that underpin our surveys and statistics. She ensures our statistics are of the highest possible quality, using the best mixture of data sources.

Sarah has a wealth of experience in analysis and statistical methods. She was previously Head of Intelligence and Performance at Manchester City Council.

Data Capability

Alison Pritchard - Deputy National Statistician and Director General for Data Capability

Alison is leading the transformation in data usage which will see ever more integrated data put to effective and safe use across the private and public sectors. She ensures the ONS has the right technology and skills to meet its ambitious goals in data analytics and data science and champions safe and secure data sharing for the public good in the ONS and beyond.

Before joining the ONS, Alison was Director General of the Government Digital Service leading the organisation through a busy and critical period. And before that, she was Director of Transformation at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She began her Civil Service career in 1987 and has worked across a range of departments including the Ministry of Defence, HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Simon Sandford-Taylor – Chief Digital and Information Officer, Digital Services and Technology

Simon leads our Digital and Technology Services function. He is responsible for all the systems, devices and technology that supports the ONS.

Simon has held senior IT roles in both the public and private sector. His previous roles include Chief Technology Officer at the Intellectual Property Office and Group Applications Manager at Heath Lambert Group.

Alex Lambert – Director of Surveys

Alex leads the organisation in data collection, through our use of social and business surveys. He is also responsible for the field interviewer community and survey transformation.

Alex has experience in operations and transformation, having previously been at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).

Pete Stokes – Director of the Integrated Data Programme

Pete leads the development and implementation of the integrated data programme, responsible for producing the integrated data system and updating the secure research service.

Pete has been in the ONS for several years and has gained extensive experience in data and research.

Corporate Services

Nick Bateson – Director of Finance, Planning and Performance

Nick leads the organisation in financial management, planning, portfolio management, business development and risk and assurance, so that public money is safeguarded and used appropriately and efficiently.

Nick is a Chartered Accountant with wide experience across government, following his previous career at the National Audit Office, where he led audit and assurance products across the centre of government, HM Treasury, the Bank of England, financial regulators and the Royal Household.

Philippa Bonay – Director of People and Business Services

Philippa leads the People and Business Services directorate, which is responsible for human resources (HR), estates, facilities management, H&S, business services and the customer contact centre. She is also the HR Director for the Government Analysis Function, People Lead for the Government Statistical Service and a member of the Civil Service HR Executive.

Philippa has extensive experience across the whole HR remit, infrastructure, commercial and business services in both the private and public sectors.

Owen Brace – Director of Communications and Digital Publishing

Owen leads the communications, and digital publishing teams to uphold the reputation of the ONS and promote evidence-based policymaking and public debate.

Owen previously led communications teams at the Department for Work and Pensions and, before joining the Civil Service, worked for nearly 10 years as a journalist.

Andy Wall – Chief Security Officer

Andy leads the Security and Information Management Directorate which provides security advice and operations to protect the ONS, its services and data assets from threats. The Directorate develops new approaches to secure the operations of the ONS’ leading edge big data analytics that support the organisational statistical mission and its corporate information governance. A key element of the role is to advise the National Statistician on security and information matters and the programme of work to reduce risk and comply with legislation.

Andy has extensive security experience from over 25 years of working with Government, Civil Service and commercial sectors, especially within big data processing departments, the intelligence and military communities and within Critical National Infrastructure organisations including nuclear, water and transportation.

Andy is a commentator on security and information governance issues and regularly presents a modern, business-focused view of security at conferences and panels, highlighting the approaches that the ONS use to protect data and ensure its appropriate use.