Leonard Warren Cook CBE CRSNZ (born 13 April 1949) is a professional statistician who was Government Statistician of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

from 1992 to 2000, and National Statistician and Director of 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 ...

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 ...

, and Registrar General for England and Wales from 2000 to 2005. He served as Families Commissioner in New Zealand from 2015 to 2018.

Background

Cook was born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

, in 1949 and was educated at Bayfield High School, Dunedin and the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

where he did a BA (Hons) in Maths and Stats. He attended Henley Management Centre in 1989 and

INSEAD INSEAD ( ; French: ''Institut européen d'administration des affaires'') is a non-profit business school with locations in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and North America (San Francisco, USA ...

in 1998.''"Appointment of National Statistician and Director of Office for National Statistics"''
, 10 Downing Street press notice, 17 February 2000. Retrieved 20 June 2007. Cook was elected a Chartered Statistician of the Royal Statistical Society in 1973 and a Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2005. He served as one of three vice-presidents of the International Statistical Institute from 2005 to 2007 and is a visiting fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. He was made a CBE in June 2005. Cook had a particular interest in social policy,

demography Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examine ...

, statistical methodology and the application of information technology in statistical systems. He was interested in the promotion of research methodology in public policy analysis and decision-making with past interests particularly in retirement provision and taxation policies. He and his partner, Shirley Flora Vollweiler, have no children. His hobbies are languages, travel, hiking and fly fishing.

Department of Statistics, New Zealand

After joining the Department of Statistics, New Zealand, (now Statistics New Zealand) in 1971, he was appointed as Assistant Government Statistician in 1982, Deputy Government Statistician in 1986 and Government Statistician in 1992. He was a member of the secretariat of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Tax Reform in 1981/82 and a member of the Royal Commission on Social Policy in New Zealand in 1987/88.

Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom

Cook took up the post of National Statistician and Director of the Office for National Statistics at the end of May 2000. He was the second head of the ONS but the first to have the title of National Statistician. He returned to New Zealand and was succeeded by Karen Dunnell in September 2005.''"National Statistician - Director Office for National Statistics"''
, 10 Downing Street press release, 4 August 2005. Retrieved 21 June 2007. He led the creation and publication of the National Statistics Code of Practice. Probably his most publicised act in his time in the United Kingdom came in February 2005, when as Registrar General he had to rule on the legality of the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles.''"Registrar allows Charles' wedding"''
BBC news report, 8 March 2005, retrieved 10 June 2007.

References

External links

Len Cook, Esq, CBE
at Debrett's ''People of Today'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Len 1949 births Directors of the Office for National Statistics Government statisticians of New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Living people New Zealand mathematicians British statisticians University of Otago alumni New Zealand statisticians Scientists from Dunedin Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute Presidents of the International Statistical Institute Registrars-General for England and Wales Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand People educated at Bayfield High School, Dunedin 20th-century New Zealand public servants