Helen Chandler-Wilde: The UK Government’s Management Problem

Almost every week, it seems that one more thing is in crisis. The NHS backlog is infamous, the police are too swamped to investigate a number of crimes (and prisons are full, anyway), and house building continues to lag far behind population demand.

Now we can add one more to the list: the Office for National Statistics is apparently on “life support,” according to the chair of a parliamentary committee investigating it. After a string of data-quality blunders on key metrics such as inflation and the jobs market, the government is attempting a turnaround, including putting in new leadership.