Anthony John Fox (born 25 April 1946) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...

, who has worked in both the public service and academia. He was born on 25 April 1946, the son of Fred Frank Fox

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. He was educated at

Dauntsey's School Dauntsey's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils aged 11–18 in the village of West Lavington, Wiltshire, England. T ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(BSc) and

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

(PhD). He was a statistician at the Employment Medical Advisory Service, 1970-5 and then the Medical Statistics Division of the

Office of Population Censuses and Surveys The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) was created in May 1970 through the merger of the General Register Office and the Government Social Survey Department. It was a forerunner and constituent, with the UK Central Statistical Off ...

(OPCS) until 1979. In the latter job, he helped to set up the England and Wales Longitudinal Survey, which monitors the health, address changes and fertility of a 1% sample of the population of England and Wales over time for statistical purposes. During 1980–8, he was Professor of Social Statistics at City University, building up his department into one of the world's leading centres for social statistics. He returned to OPCS in 1988 as the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Chief Medical Statistician. In 1990, he took on the additional post of honorary professor at the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

. In 1996, following the creation of the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

(ONS) (into which OPCS was incorporated), cuts in the senior Civil Service meant that his responsibilities were widened to include demographic statistics and he became Director of the Census, Population and Health Group there. In 1999, he moved to the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

as Director of Statistics. Due to further cuts in senior statistical posts in the Civil Service, he soon became the most senior government statistician outside the ONS. In 2004, he became the "Change Manager" responsible for setting up the new English

Information Centre for Health and Social Care NHS Digital was the trading name from 2016 of the Health and Social Care Information Centre, which was the national provider of information, data and IT systems for commissioners, analysts and clinicians in health and social care in England, p ...

(since renamed the Health and Social Care Information Centre), which officially came into existence on 1 April 2005. This centre was an

NHS special health authority A special health authority is a type of NHS body which provide services on behalf of the National Health Service in England. Unlike other types of trust, they operate nationally rather than serve a specific geographical area. They are a type of " ...

, so he and his staff were part of the NHS. He was the Director of Customer and Stakeholder Engagement. The permanent Chief Executive from July 2005 is Professor

Denise Lievesley Denise Anne Lievesley is a British social statistician. She has formerly been Chief Executive of the English Information Centre for Health and Social Care, Director of Statistics at UNESCO, in which capacity she founded the UNESCO Institute for ...

, formerly director of Statistics at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. John has published several books on mortality and health statistics.

References

* Who's Who (2006) * '' Civil Service Yearbook'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, John 1946 births Living people Alumni of University College London Alumni of Imperial College London Academics of City, University of London Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Civil servants in the Health and Safety Executive Civil servants in the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys Civil servants in the Office for National Statistics Civil servants in the Ministry of Health (United Kingdom) Administrators in the National Health Service English statisticians 20th-century English mathematicians People educated at Dauntsey's School People from Dauntsey