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|a In a world that is producing ever increasing amounts of data, there is unrelenting pressure to provide a quality service for design, collection, analysis, interpretation and reporting for these data. There is a corresponding need for a recognised professional qualification that attests to the ability of individual statisticians to provide this service. In 1993 the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) began awarding Chartered Statistician (CStat) status to suitably qualified statisticians. By the end of 1995 over 1600 statisticians world-wide had received this qualification. The RSS simultaneously recognised a responsibility for maintaining professional standards after the awards had been made. Consequently, in 1996, the Society began to explore a strategy for maintaining and continuing the development of its professionally qualified statisticians. In this paper we report our views about this strategic exercise. We argue that continuing education is essential for the maintenance of a professional statistician's portfolio of skills and expertise, and that this will help a quality service to be delivered. We argue for a flexible system based on credits, with an element of compulsion that can evolve as the profession develops.
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