Ed Humpherson took up post as Director General for Regulation in January 2014. He is head of the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), which provides independent regulation of all official statistics in the UK. The aim of the OSR is to enhance public confidence in the trustworthiness, quality and value of statistics produced by government.

Prior to joining the Authority, Ed was a Board Member and Executive Leader for Economic Affairs at the National Audit Office (NAO), a post he held since July 2009. This role included responsibility for the overall strategic direction of NAO’s work on economic affairs. 

Ed Humpherson was educated at the University of Edinburgh. He is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. 

“The Office for Statistics Regulation is a great supporter of ADR UK’s work in enabling and promoting the power of linked administrative data to support the public good.

“The ADR UK model provides a solid infrastructure for bringing organisations and researchers together to answer key questions for the good of society. Alongside the Digital Economy Act, ADR UK has been key in driving the wealth of data linkage projects being undertaken across data and statistics. Just as the Suez Canal is a key enabler of world trade, ADR UK is a crucial conduit for ensuring the passage of administrative data to researchers in a safe, independent and ethical way.

“In turn this work helps fill important data gaps in official statistics. As well as supporting the trustworthiness, quality and value of official statistics, we are able to glean vital new insights about society. The outputs from ADR UK projects like Data First have been a great example of the kind of important lessons we can learn about society by harnessing the potential of linked administrative data.”