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Chief Statistician

Current role holder
Ally McAlpine
Ally McAlpine

Contact

Address

The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Email
ChiefStatistician@gov.scot

Ally McAlpine was appointed Interim Chief Statistician in April 2022.

Responsibilities

The Chief Statistician is responsible for the following:

  • ensuring adherence to the Code of Practice for Statistics and resolving any issues concerning the interpretation of the Code in Scotland
  • setting Scottish standards for statistical classification and methods
  • reporting to Scottish Ministers on National Statistics performance in Scotland
  • ScotStat, which is a consultation network for users and providers of Scottish official statistics
  • dealing with any formal complaints concerning the statistical service provided

The Chief Statistician works in consultation with the Registrar General for Scotland and the Director of the Information Services Divisions of NHS National Services Scotland who are responsible for the statistical work of their organisations.

The Chief Statistician functions as the statistics Head of Profession for Scottish Government directorates; with overall responsibility for the following:

  • the format, content and timing of Scottish Government official statistics publications
  • the quality and integrity of official statistics produced by the Scottish Government
  • reporting breaches of the Code of Practice to the UK National Statistician and UK Statistics Authority
  • ensuring and developing the professional competence of Scottish Government statistical staff

In fulfilling the role as Head of Profession,  the Chief Statistician works closely with Senior Statisticians who work in the Analytical Services Divisions of Scottish Government Directorates

Biography

He joined the civil service in 2013 from Police Scotland, where he had worked as an analyst and Performance Manager in the former Central Scotland constabulary.

A graduate of University of Stirling, he has worked in various roles across government, most recently in agricultural statistics. He also led the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (2016) which won several awards, including the Royal Statistical Society’s ‘Communicating Official Statistics’ and the Civil Service ‘Use of Analysis in Policy Making’ awards in 2017.

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