Venue: Department of the Taoiseach (Room 301), D02 R583
Date: Wednesday July 5, 2017 at 9.30am – 1.00pm
Item 1: Minutes of December 8, 2016 (NSB 2017-1-2) Matters arising
Item 2: Presentation from the NSB Chair - Role of NSB and NSB strategy (NSB 2017-1-3)
Item 3: Presentation from Director General CSO – Overview of the CSO (NSB 2017-1-4)
Item 5: Other key developments for CSO (NSB 2017-1-6)
Item 6: Any other business
Venue: Department of the Taoiseach
Date: Wednesday 5 July, 2017
The following members attended:
Dr. Patricia O’Hara (Chairperson), Mr. John McCarthy, Mr. John Shaw, Dr. Eimear Cotter, Mr. Gerard O’Neill, Mr. John Martin, Mr. Gerard Brady and Mr. Pádraig Dalton.
Mr. Paul Morrin (CSO Senior Management)
Ms. Claire Hanley (Secretary)
Note:
Since the previous meeting on December 8 2016, the Taoiseach renewed the membership of the National Statistics Board. On May 15 2017 the following new members were appointed: Dr. Eimear Cotter, Mr. Gerard O’Neill, Mr. John Martin and Mr. Gerard Brady. The term of the current Board will end on May 15 2020.
Item 1: Minutes of September 8 2016 (NSB 2017-1-2)
The minutes of the previous meeting were noted.
Item 2: Presentation from the NSB Chair - Role of NSB and NSB strategy (NSB 2016-1-3)
Dr. Patricia O’Hara (Chairperson) welcomed the new Board members and congratulated them on their appointments.
The Chairperson outlined the statutory role of the National Statistics Board in terms of establishing priorities for the development of official statistics, assessing the resources available to the CSO and arbitrating where necessary between CSO and other public authorities.
She outlined the evolution of the Boards strategies, in particular the shift towards the development of the Irish Statistical System (ISS) as a whole-system approach to statistics. The importance of a register-based National Data Infrastructure (NDI) and the collection of unique identifiers was described as well as data protection and privacy concerns.
The new era for official statistics in Ireland was outlined in the context of the Boards most recent strategy which covers the years 2015-2020. The ISS and ES Codes of Practice were discussed as well as the impact of Regulation (EU) 2015/759 which makes the coordination role of the CSO legally binding.
Finally, the Chairperson outlined recent key developments which have led to significant progress in moving to a whole-system approach – the expansion of CSO resources and establishment of the Statistical System Coordination Unit within the CSO and the support of the Civil Service Management Board (CSMB) under Action 24 ‘Improving how data is collected, managed and shared’.
Item 3: Presentation from Director General CSO – Overview of the CSO (NSB 2016-1-4)
Pádraig Dalton (Director General, CSO) described the mandate and statutory functions of the Central Statistics Office and outlined the importance of the principles of independence, objectivity and confidentiality to the work of the CSO. He outlined key aspects of the Statistics Act 1993 particularly in relation to Section 10 and Section 31 Co-operation with Public Authorities.
He outlined the structure of the Office and the main features of its current work programme. He pointed to the extent to which the work of the Office is dictated by EU regulation and guided by the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and the EU Statistics Code of Practice. He described Regulation (EU) 2015/759 amending ‘European Statistical Law’ Regulation (EC) 223/2009 which strengthens the coordination role of the CSO and makes provision for the publication by national governments of ‘Commitment on Confidence in Statistics’ (approved by Cabinet in May 2017).
Finally, he outlined the evolving environment for official statistics and described some of the measures underway by CSO to meet the challenges facing the organisation.
Item 4: Presentation from Assistant Director General, Statistical System Coordination Unit, CSO – Overview of the Irish Statistical System (ISS) and the National Data Infrastructure (NDI) (NSB 2016-1-5)
Paul Morrin (Assistant Director General, CSO) described in more detail, the Irish Statistical System (ISS) and the National Data Infrastructure (NDI). He outlined the three steps needed to deliver the NDI – support of the CSMB; partnership activities between CSO and public authorities; roll out of the Irish Government Statistical Service (IGSS).
He described the survey currently underway by the CSO to measure the coverage of unique identifiers (PPSN and Eircode) on Department key data holdings. He outlined the new resources in the Statistical Coordination Unit in CSO and the partnership activities that this unit is involved in both in-house and with external public bodies.
Finally he described the expansion of the IGSS including the statistical workforce planned for Departments by 2019 and the role of the CSO in supporting the IGSS.
Item 5: Other key developments for CSO (NSB 2016-1-6)
Pádraig Dalton (Director General, CSO) described key developments within CSO such as the recommendations made by the Economic Statistics Review Group (ESRG) for modified indicators of the Irish economy; the establishment of a new Income, Consumption & Wealth division in CSO; Census 2021; the transformation of the CSO’s Business Statistics Division; its Communications and Dissemination Strategy; and Innovation website.
He also outlined some of the key challenges facing the organisation such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Framework Regulation integrating European Business Statistics (FRIBS).
The remaining 2017 meetings of the Board will take place on October 4, 2017 at the Department of the Taoiseach and December 6, 2017 at the CSO office in Cork.