This year's annual lecture, Numbers and public policy: the power of official statistics and statistical communication in public policy-making, will be given by Andrew Dilnot CBE. Andrew is Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, as well as Warden of Nuffield College, Oxford and recent chair of the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, which published its report Fairer Care Funding in July 2011. Andrew was director of IFS between 1991 and 2002, and we are delighted that he has agreed to give this year's lecture.

We would like to thank the School of Social Science and Public Policy, Kings College London, for hosting this lecture.