Policy Hub
On 6 October 2003, in a Financial Times interview, Len Cook, the head of the Office for National Statistics, said he wanted statisticians, economists and policy analysts more closely involved in setting and monitoring targets. Statisticians should improve the linkage between policy and performance targets for hospitals, schools and other public services.
Mr Cook said he was not opposed to targets in principle because they could be "really useful". But many targets presented problems in practice, he said, citing a target to bring Welsh per capita GDP closer to that for the rest of the UK.
The article can be viewed on the Financial Times website.