UK’s head of statistics, Ian Diamond

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The head of the National Statistics Office has abandoned immediate effects citing “ongoing health problems”, after the United Kingdom data agency was jeopardized by defects in the key economic indicators.

Sir Ian Diamond resigned because health problems meant that it was unable to give the complete commitment that the organization would move forward, “said the United Kingdom Statistics Authority, which oversees Ons.

Diamond It has been replaced as a national statistical by Emma Rourke, an attachment of national health statistics, population and methods, pending long -term provisions, the UKSA said on Friday.

Mike Keoghan, another national statistical statistical of the Ons, left the agency in March.

Diamond’s exit occurs as a UKSA and Cabinet review review examining agency leadershipCulture and structure after a series of errors in economic indicators, along with delays in the publication of data.

A strong decrease in the response rates to the workforce survey, which is based on critical data such as the unemployment rate, has made it difficult for the Bank of England, ministers and researchers to evaluate the UK’s labor market.

An “transformed” LFS, aimed at giving policymakers a more accurate image, has suffered repeated delays and will now be launched only by the end of 2026.

Last fall, an internal review of the errors that led to the collapse of the survey found that leadership failures had contributed to a crisis in morality in the agency, with poor strategic options that lead to “the systematic subverting and composed of surveys”.

A temporary review in broader concerns about the quality of the figures, published last month by the Office for Statistics Regulation, the UKSA’s regulatory arm, said “insufficient investment” in data collection.

He called for “decisive actions to restore confidence”, less than a week after the agency reported a real budget to his budget by 2025-26. The Onces is now reducing its work in key policy areas, including the measure of public sector productivity and crime against children, in order to focus on their basic economic statistics.

Diamond, who won praise during his first possession by the way the agency responded to the needs of Covid-19 Pandemic, said in a statement that he had been “an honor and a privilege to lead the Onces for the past five and a half years.”

But he added that the next phase of delivery for the agency would require “energy leadership”, including the implementation of the findings of the independent probe led by the old Major Mandarin Sir Robert Dereux.

“Unfortunately, I have made the decision that, due to ongoing health problems, I cannot give a commitment to the role of the national statistics he would like and feel that it is the right time for someone else to collect the baton,” said Diamond.