ONS employees recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours List

Office for National Statistics (ONS) employees have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for their outstanding service during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The last 12 months have seen an incredible demand for public data and the ONS has been right at the heart of this. From web scraping Google mobility data to introducing new surveys such as the COVID-19 Infection Survey, to publishing regular outputs tracking mortality. That work has not gone unnoticed.

Myer Glickman has been awarded an OBE for his outstanding service to Health Analysis over the past 20 years, while colleague Sarah Caul has been awarded an MBE for playing an integral role in the delivery of vital mortality statistics needed to help monitor and understand the impact of COVID-19.

Offering his congratulations National Statistician Sir Ian Diamond said: “I’m delighted the Queen’s Birthday honours has recognised people from within the ONS and this is testament to the dedication, innovation and hard work our employees have shown throughout this period.

“All of us have been affected by COVID-19 in some way, whether through the tragic loss of loved ones or the effect on our physical and mental health. I’ve been immensely proud of the work all our employees have achieved throughout the pandemic and continue to do.”

During his 20 years at the ONS, Myer – based at the ONS’ Newport office – has revolutionised the analysis of mortality in the United Kingdom and has designed methods which have played a great part in helping our understanding of inequalities and mortality patterns. In early 2020, Myer recognised the increasing significance of Coronavirus (COVID-19) before the pandemic reached the UK. He ensured that systems, procedures and contingency plans were in place to allow health analysis to continue and used his expertise to design and deliver high quality COVID-19 mortality analysis which helped to guide the government response.

Myer, 58, from Pontypool, said: “I’m honoured to receive this award, but this is really recognition for the hugely important work the whole team has done in an unprecedented time. We’ve had to work under pressure and with immediate national impact, that none of us have ever experienced and we have done that together.”

The last 12 months have seen an incredible demand for public data and head of mortality analysis Sarah Caul has been right at the heart of this, leading on what was once a little-known weekly dataset that became one of the most important and widely used documents for tracking deaths throughout the pandemic.

Sarah, 30, from Cardiff said: “It is an honour to receive this award and I am thrilled that the work my colleagues and I have undertaken in the last 12 months has been recognised.

“It has been a challenging year, but I am proud to have been involved in producing such vital information to help understand the impact of COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, their Hampshire colleague Sue Reeves has been recognised with an MBE for her outstanding service to disability, diversity and inclusion.

Vital ONS data on COVID-19

Details of all of the statistics and analysis the ONS is producing on the prevalence and impact of COVID-19 and the UK’s vaccine rollout can be found at ONS.gov.uk/coronavirus

Please note the ONS is still publishing market sensitive releases at 07:00.  Other statistics are being released at 09:30 as usual.