Central Statistical Office, UK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Central Statistical Office was set up in January 1941. The main function of this UK governmental organisation was the compilation of economic statistics, e.g. the construction of the national accounts. Shortly after it was founded Sir Harry Campion became its head and remained in this position until his retirement in 1967. He was replaced by Professor (now Lord) Claus Moser

In 1989, when Jack Hibbert was director the task of collecting economic statistics in Whitehall was concentrated in the CSO. In 1996 the CSO merged with the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) to form the Office for National Statistics (ONS) under a single director, who from 2000 was also known as the National Statistician. As well as career civil servants the CSO has been directed by academic statisticians: Moser was one and another was Professor Tim Holt, who became the first director of the combined organization, ONS.

[edit] References

• Reg Ward and Ted Doggett Keeping score : the first fifty years of the Central Statistical Office, Publisher: Central Statistical Office, 1991.
• W. Rudoe Obituary: Sir Harry Campion, 1905-96, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (Statistics in Society), Vol. 160, No. 1. (1997), pp. 148-151.