Pete Benton (pictured) moves to become deputy national statistician for Health, Population and Methods (HPaM), while Michael Keoghan joins as the new deputy national statistician for the Economic, Social and Environmental statistics Group (ESEG).

As well as continuing to measure the ongoing impacts of Covid-19, the new directors general will be charged with guiding decisions on the future census recommendation in 2023, improvements to population estimates and the ways in which environmental statistics are measured to assist the government’s efforts on net zero.

Keoghan will join the ONS in the New Year from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), where until recently he was the acting director general for business sectors and was also chief economic adviser.

Benton will move from his current role at the ONS as director of transformation to take up his new post in early January 2022. He has a wide variety of experience in census, population and health statistics and was responsible for the launch of the Coronavirus Infection Survey and the delivery of the Census 2021 collection operation. He has also held several other senior roles during a 20-year career at the ONS, including interim deputy national statistician; prior to that, he worked as an analyst in the NHS.

Commenting on the appointments, the national statistician, Sir Ian Diamond, said: “I am thrilled to announce the appointment of our new directors general, both of whom bring a valuable blend of experience. I have the utmost confidence in their ability to meet the challenges that lie ahead for the ONS.

“This is an exciting time to strengthen our senior leadership team as we drive forward with our ambitions for 2022 and beyond in delivering our strategy of statistics for the public good.”