Sir Andrew Dilnot leads disucssion on numbers and public policy

08 Mar 2018

The Manchester Statistical Society presents a discussion led by Sir Andrew Dilnot

The Manchester Statistical Society would like to invite you to join them to discuss "Numbers and public policy: why the statistics really do matter".

Led by Sir Andrew Dilnot CBA and Warden of Nuffield College Oxford, the talk will look at statistics and their analysis and in our lives. 

Statistics and their analysis and use (and abuse) are a central part of our lives, and perhaps more so now that they are so readily available and communicated. It is easy to be cynical or frustrated about the nature of debate on public policy, but Andrew Dilnot will argue that statistics and statistical analysis offer enormous insight, and at their best are a great encouragement to the precision in thinking that is essential if we are to make sensible decisions about policy matters.

Sir Andrew Dilnot is Warden of Nuffield College Oxford. He was Chairman of the UK Statistics Authority from 2012 to 2017, and was the Chairman of the Commission on the Funding of Care and Support, which reported in 2011. He was Principal of St Hugh’s College Oxford from 2002 to 2012 and a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 2005 to 2012. Sir Andrew was Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 1991 to 2002. He was the founding presenter of BBC Radio 4’s series on the beauty of numbers, ‘More or Less’ and has presented two series of programmes on Radio 4 ‘A History of Britain in Numbers’.

Sir Andrew has served on the Social Security Advisory Committee, the National Consumer Council, the Councils of the Royal Economic Society, and Queen Mary and Westfield College, as a trustee of the Nuffield Foundation, and as chairman of the Statistics Users Forum of the Royal Statistical Society. He holds Honorary Doctorates from City University and The Open University, and a City and Guilds Fellowship.

Guests are welcome to attend free of charge, but registration is essential no later than midday Friday 9 March by e-mail to the Honorary Meetings Secretary