Coordination of National Statistical Systems

1. Coordination of National Statistical Systems Konrad Pesendorfer Director General CES, Paris 7th June 2012 Seminar on the Implementation of Fundamental Principles

2. Outline • Objectives and implementation of the Coordination Principle • Common features to the coordination issue in statistical systems (contributions by LT, MEX, PT, SE, SF) • Legal framework • Coordination content • Coordination tools and instruments • Coordination provisions of international organisations • Questions for discussion

3. Fundamental Principle Nr. 8 Principle 8:”Coordination among statistical agencies within countries is essential to achieve consistency and efficiency in the statistical system.“ Objectives: • Avoid duplication of work – efficiency • Minimize response burden – negative externalities • Integration of data through statistical standards – harmonisation/standardisation • Participate in international initiatives – speak with one voice

4. UN Survey on FP 2004

5. UN Survey on FP 2004 Coordination Principle: • 90% of reporting NSIs stated that there are other producers of official statistics • NSIs are the dominant producer in most countries • Main concern of coordination: • Data collection • Avoid duplication

6. UN FP Survey (2004) Results

7. Common features Institutional Setup Coordinationcontent Coordinationtools NSI Legal Framework

8. Need forcoordination Strong Coordination PT MEX SF AT Institutional Setup centralized Institutional Setup decentralized LT SE Soft Coordination

9. Legal framework • Strong coordination - NSI can: • Select otherentitiestobecomeproducers • Request therespectofstandardsfromotherproducers • Request theseparationoftasks (Firewalls: usertasksvsproducertasksofstatistics) • Assessthecommitmenttothosestandardsthroughstatisticalaudits Strong Coordination • Soft coordination: • Cooperationinsteadofcoordination • Non-bindingcommonstandards • Consensus baseddecisionmaking • Other producersmaintainfulldecisionmaking power (collectionmodes, methods, content) overtheirstatistics Soft Coordination

10. Coordinationcontent Coordinationcontent Planning Production Processes Quality

11. Coordinationcontent: Planning • Define joint direction of the national statistical system • Main lines of Policy - every 5 years (SF) • Availability of official statistics (SE) • Different time horizons of planning (e.g. Mex e.a.) • Strategic Program: direction of system next 24 y • National Program: government cycle • Annual Program: defines specific activities according to the National Program

12. Coordinationcontent: Production • Methods • Data collection (e.g. Collection modes, standardisation of questionnaires) • Processing • Storage • Analysis • Dissemination

13. Coordinationcontent: Processes • Standardisation activities • Common Classifications • Harmonisation of definitions and statistical indicators

14. Coordinationcontent: Quality • Safeguarding (European) Quality Criteria Relevance AccuracyandReliability TimelinessandPunctuality CoherenceandComparability AccessibilityandClarity

15. Coordinationtools + instruments Coordinationtools/instruments Standardisation tools Common institutions Formal instruments Communication + othertools • guidelines • Standards • commonclassifications • Common definitions • MoU • Quality declarations + reporting • Peer reviews • CoPselfassessments • Data transmissionthrough NSI • Statistical audits • Common publicationcalendar • Common annualreport • Common internetplatform • Professional training • consulting • CoordinationCouncils • SubjectCommittees • Technical Committees • Common System Programming

16. International coordinationprovisions • UN Fundamental Principles • Regulation on European Statistics (223/2009) Article 5 (1): The national statistical authority designated by each Member State as the body having the responsibility for coordinating all activities at national level for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics (the NSI) shall act as the contact point for the Commission (Eurostat) on statistical matters. The Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure the application of this provision.

17. Questionsfordiscussion (1) • Are strong coordination systems preferable to soft coordination systems or vice versa? • What are appropriate tools and instruments of coordination given the resource constraints and the absence of enforcement powers of NSIs? • There is often a reluctance of other national producers of statistics “to be coordinated” by the NSI. What are incentives for them to accept coordination? What are the costs of non-coordination to the system and its stakeholders?

18. Questionsfordiscussion (2) • Should the coordinating role of NSIs be extended to standardisation activities in the area of administrative data collection? • What can international organisations do to assist NSIs in exercising their coordinating role of national statistical systems, while at the same time respecting the subsidiarity principle? • Is there scope to further develop Fundamental Principle 8 in order to better achieve the objective of consistency through coordination?

19. Conclusions • Almost all NSIs have a national coordination task • Decentralized systems do not always correspond with stronger coordination roles of NSIs • Coordination content includes planning, production, processes and quality • Coordination tools vary a lot – most of them can be applied irrespective of strong or soft coordination • International institutions have an important role in supporting the NSIs‘ coordination function.

20. Coordination of National Statistical Systems Konrad Pesendorfer Director General CES, Paris 7th June 2012 Seminar on the Implementation of Fundamental Principles