Key Speakers

Len Cook joined the New Zealand Department of Statistics in 1971. In 1992 he was appointed Government Statistician in New Zealand, and in May 2000 he crossed the globe to become the United Kingdom's first ever National Statistician.

He has a wide range of professional interests, including social policy, superannuation, taxation, demography, statistical methodology and marketing and is also concerned with the application of technology to information issues.

Over the years, Len has been involved in a variety of statistical and managerial matters. It is his aim that statistics should be used in the decision-making processes of business, government and the community. In line with his belief that statisticians must do more to interpret their work, he is actively involved in the presentation of statistical trends to professional audiences and to the public.

Len is a member of, and has contributed papers to, a wide range of professional bodies, including the Royal Statistical Society, International Association of Survey Statisticians (IASS), International Association of Official Statistics (IAOS), Association of Economists and Institute of Public Administration.

Cynthia Clark
Director of Methodology, Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Cynthia joined ONS in 2004 and is responsible for the statistical and survey methodology at ONS. She began her professional career as a lecturer in mathematics and statistics. After receiving a Ph.D. from Iowa State University, Cynthia entered the U.S. civil service as a research statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau. She subsequently worked for the Office for Management and Budget on guidance for revisions and seasonal adjustment of time series and on federal legislation on statistical confidentiality and data access. She worked in agricultural statistics for 13 years as a researcher and senior manager at the Census Bureau directing methodology and research for the agricultural census; and as a divisional director in the National Agricultural Statistics Service overseeing survey administration, frame and sample design, questionnaire design, and data collection for agricultural surveys.

Chris Kelly
Head of Macroeconomic Prospects, HM Treasury

Chris has worked for the Treasury for almost 25 years in a range of posts on the macroeconomics side, and has extensive experience in engaging with the ONS on issues relating to national accounts, business, inflation and labour market statistics. His team is responsible for the Treasury's macroeconomic forecasts published in Pre-Budget and Budget Reports, and is a key customer for ONS macroeconomic statistics.

Peter Lynn
Professor of Survey Methodology, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex

Peter is a member of the National Statistics Methodology Advisory Committee, the National Statistics Harmonisation Group and the European Social Survey Expert Panel. He specialises in all aspects of survey methodology and is currently editor of Series A of the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society.