Celebrating excellence in Scotland’s statistics community

Scotland’s Chief Statistician Awards took place in June, recognising the people and teams delivering outstanding statistics and analysis that shape decisions and improve lives across Scotland. The awards showcased achievements that support Scotland’s statistics strategic priorities and the GSS vision (Strength in Numbers) across five categories, celebrating excellence across Scotland’s statistical profession:

Excellence in communicating statistics and meeting user needs

The Labour Market Statistics Team helped users to navigate major challenges in Scotland’s labour market data. Through clear communication, the team maintained trust in official statistics during a period of significant data uncertainty, supporting stakeholders through close engagement and helping them to understand challenges and make informed decisions. The team won both the ‘Excellence in communicating statistics’ and ‘Meeting user needs’ awards for their contributions.

Maximising the use of data

The Employability Statistics Team used innovative data analysis to generate new insights into Scotland’s employability services. Their work has strengthened the evidence base for policy and service improvement across Scotland.

Efficiency and innovation

The Whole Systems Intelligence Analysis team transformed health data production with an innovative automated pipeline, cutting processing times from days to hours, delivering faster insights.

The individual recognition award

Lilly Herridge was recognised for leading the modernisation of statistical production at National Records of Scotland. Her leadership championing open-source tools and building future analytical capacity is helping to create a more innovative, sustainable and future ready organisation.

Connecting our community

The statistics community came together both in person and online to celebrate the outstanding achievements of colleagues across the profession. The event created a real sense of energy and excitement, with attendees having the opportunity to connect after the ceremony, hear directly from award winners about their work, and build new relationships across the community. These conversations highlighted the innovation, collaboration and impact of statistics across government, while creating valuable opportunities to learn from and inspire one another.

Ally McAlpine, Chief Statistician at Scottish Government, provided the following reflections:

“Congratulations to all of this year’s Chief Statistician Award winners. Your innovation, dedication and impact are helping to strengthen the use of statistics across Scotland. These awards showcase the exceptional talent within our profession and the vital role statistics play in improving decisions and outcomes. It was inspiring to see colleagues come together to celebrate success, share ideas, and strengthen our community. Thank you to everyone whose work continues to make a difference for the people of Scotland and beyond.” 

Together, we are building a more informed, data driven Scotland – we’re immensely proud of our statistician’s work and cannot wait to see what they do next.