The Editor of the British Sikh Report, Jagdev Singh Virdee, has been awarded an MBE by Her Majesty the Queen for services to the Sikh community and in recognition of his contribution to the field of statistics.

Jagdev is the most senior statistician in the global Sikh community dealing with official statistics, and an active member of the International Association of Official Statistics, the International Statistical Institute and the Royal Statistical Society. He joined the Civil Service in 1978 and served in various departments, finishing his Civil Service career at the Office for National Statistics where he progressed to be one of the first ethnic minority Deputy Directors.

Since leaving the ONS in 2010, he has become recognised as one of the leading figures in championing the use of statistics to inform policy development across Britain and internationally. His extensive experience has led to him regularly being asked to organise and lead sessions at events such as the UN World Data Forum in Cape Town in 2017, which addressed the statistical requirements to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Since 2015 he has been the Editor of the British Sikh Report, a comprehensive and ground-breaking annual document based on the views and opinions of Sikhs in the UK, as part of his commitment to improving society through robust data.

Jagdev’s other voluntary activities include sewa through various teams at Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara (Gravesend), one of the largest Gurdwaras outside India, and as Chair of Jugnu Bhangra Group (established in 1970 in Gravesend).

Jagdev Singh Virdee MBE, said “The sewa or volunteering that so many of us are involved in is hugely rewarding in its own right, especially if we can combine our passions with our work-related skills for the benefit of wider society. I just hope that this honour will help raise the profile of real life issues such as mental health, which we have been highlighting through this year’s British Sikh Report. This work reflected the need to have high-quality statistics to inform discussion of a key issue, and it has brought together analysts, researchers, mental health specialists, and policymakers.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS
For further information or quotes from the British Sikh Report team or Jagdev Singh Virdee, please email: info@britishsikhreport.org
Photo credit: Clive Sherlock