Abstract
The quality, accessibility, timeliness and relevance of official statistics are issues which have been of continuing concern to the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) throughout the 154 years of its existence. Although the emphasis was often on economic statistics, a 'Petition to His Majesty's Government' in 1919, asking for action to counter the deterioration which had taken place in official statistics (Committee on Official Statistics, 1920), prompted a Lancet editorial (1920) on 'The use of figures in medicine'. Official statistics were the subject of a succession of meetings and petitions to ministers in the 1930s, and have featured prominently in presidential addresses in the 1970s and 1980s (Allen, 1970; Wilson, 1973; Wynn, 1978; Moser, 1980; Durbin, 1987). When Sir Derek Rayner was reviewing the Government Statistical Service (GSS) in 1981, Sir Claus Moser remarked during his vote of thanks to Sir David Cox's presidential address that he was not meant to exploit the occasion to add a postscript of his own, but:
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
