The Irish Statistical System –Preserving Trust through

Quality Standards Patricia O’Hara, Chair National Statistics Board and Member European Statistical Governance

Advisory Board (ESGAB)

P O'Hara, NSB 2

NSB and ISS

Trust and Quality

ESS CoP and ESGAB

Implementing the ISS CoP

Four Themes

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Statistics Act 1993◦ 8 members ◦ Department of Taoiseach

Guide strategic direction of CSO by ◦ Establishing priorities for the compilation and

development of official statistics, ensuring that the necessary resources are available, arbitrating where necessary between CSO and other public authorities regarding extraction of statistics from records, or co-ordination of statistical activities.

The National Statistics Board (NSB)

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Strategy 2003-2008 ISS as a ‘system’ – coordination needed

SPAR exercises, statisticians in Departments, StatCentral portal

Strategy 2009-2014 Issues of practice, capacity building

Memos of Understanding Administrative Data Centre Collaboration e.g. CSO & CBFSAI

But barriers to progress remain - NSB papers Data restrictions, Quality, Unique Identifiers

NSB urged Strategic Initiative from Government to create National Data Infrastructure (NDI)

The NSB and the ISS

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Public Sector Reform - DPER lead role in promoting data sharing

Data Sharing and Governance Bill Postcode System

Public authorities need to commit CSO responsible for statistical standards, so

ISS CoP vital to fully professionalise ISS

Government Initiatives

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Trust in official statistics key to democracy

Irish citizens’ trust - in institutions, government and media has plummeted since the crash

But good level of trust in official statistics in Ireland

Trust major problem in UK

Quality and Trust

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1. CoP only works if understood, applied and enforced – ongoing assessment essential

2. Engage citizens to maintain public confidence

3. Separate oversight, scrutiny and assessment from production and delivery

4. Labelling and assessment of ‘official statistics’ is difficult in practice

5. Need for data sharing culture in Departments

Lessons From UK Review of CoP

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ES CoP 15 Principles; ESGAB overview of ESS and Eurostat

Annual Report to Euro Parliament & Council 7 members

5 ARs to date – 44 Recommendations

KEY ISSUES - professional independence,

governance, coordination, resources

ESGAB and ES CoP

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1. Politicisation – professional independence

2. Designation – leadership, liaison, vigilance

3. Monitoring Compliance – self assessment, peer reviews, role for NSB?

4. Legislative Review of Statistics Act 1993

5. Engagement with users and general public

ISS CoP Implementation Challenges

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Statistics are above the public debate in that they must be seen to be produced impartially, free from political interference and commanding trust.

Statistics are below the public debate in that they underpin decision-making, policy development and good public administration.

In a nutshell, the challenge... is: get them right, get them trusted and get them used.

(Tim Holt, Thirtieth Geary Lecture 1999)

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What we need to achieve...