Thursday May 9th, 2024
Board Room, CSO Cork
9.15am to 15.30pm
|
Item |
Time |
Description |
|
1 |
9.30-9.35 |
Minutes of NSB meeting March 21st, 2024 |
|
2 |
9.35-10.15 |
Director General’s Report to NSB |
|
3 |
10.15-10.50 |
NSB Statement of Strategy: - review of progress on recommendations |
| 4 | 10.50-11.00 |
Plan for NSB Statement of Strategy review |
| 5 | 11.15-11.45 |
Evolution of Social Surveys: Presentation from Ger Doolan, Senior Statistician, Social Data Collection and Fiona O’Riordan, Senior Statistician, Social Data Design |
| 6 | 11.45-12.15 | Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC): Reporting results to inform society - Presentation from Gerry Reilly, Senior Statistician and Brian Cahill, Statistician, Income, Consumption and Wealth |
| 7 | 12.15-12.45 | Discussion and Q&A |
| 8 | 14.00-14.20 |
International, Policy and Planning Presentation from Kevin Phelan, Statistician |
| 9 | 14.20-14.40 |
Health, Wellbeing & Social Cohesion Presentation from John Dunne, Senior Statistician |
| 10 | 14.40-14.45 |
AOB |
The meeting took place in Board Room, CSO Cork, Skehard Road, Cork
Date: Thursday, 9th May 2024, 9.30am
Members present: Ms. Anne Vaughan (Chairperson), Ms. Eithne Fitzgerald, Dr. Clíona Saidléar, Mr. John Shaw, Mr. Jim Scheer, Ms. Emma Cunningham, Dr Martina Lawless* and Mr. Pádraig Dalton
Non-members in attendance from CSO: Brian Cahill (Secretary), Jennifer Banim, Paul Morrin, Richard McMahon1, Fiona O’Riordan1, Ger Doolan1, Gerry Reilly1, Eva O’Regan1, Paul Christopher1, Kevin Phelan2, Ciaran Dooley2, and John Dunne3.
* attended remotely
1 Attended for items 5, 6 and 7
2 Attended for item 9
3 Attended for item 10
Anne Vaughan and the Board congratulated Jennifer Banim on her appointment to the position of Director General of the CSO and wished her every success in the role.
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.
The DG’s Report to the National Statistics Board was taken as read and the Board discussed in more detail items including:
The Board welcomed the engagement CSO are having with users and stakeholders, for example the new liaison group focused on Climate and Energy has received interest from a wide range of stakeholders across the system. CSO are endeavouring to work as part of the system, listen to stakeholder and deliver more useful products to meet user requirements.
The Board noted the ongoing positive relationship between CSO and DPC. The Board heard how the CSO are taking a proactive role in engaging with the DPC on a range of items including data governance and data stewardship. At the most recent meeting between CSO and DPC the online first approach to Census, the digital Census pilot and CSO’s data stewardship role were discussed.
The Board welcomed the news that the CSO’s Trust and Transparency centre will be launched on the CSO website in two weeks and noted the importance of this initiative to maintain the public’s trust in what the CSO does.
The Board heard that the CSO are on a journey towards using the ‘cloud’, as laid out in the CSO Cloud Strategy, and are progressing the use of cloud storage on a cautious and incremental basis. CSO are also drafting a white paper on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the aim of rolling out projects, which use AI, in 2024/25. CSO are leading an ESSNet project on how to use AI and ML for Official Statistics.
The Board discussed the standardised classifications that are being rolled out by CSO as part of the National Data Infrastructure+ (NDI+). The NDI+ is being implemented initially by the main Public Sector Bodies (PSBs) (e.g. Department of Social Protection, Revenue, Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment) in the Irish Statistical System. The implementation of the NDI+ will be expanded to other Departments, bodies and agencies over time.
There is a challenge in measuring items such as gender identity which does not have an internationally agreed classification. CSO are working with stakeholders to develop questions and classification on gender identity and sexual orientation. These will be included in the Census pilot survey, which will help refine and agree on the classifications.
The Board heard that the Unique Business Identifier process has been delayed further, but is hoped to progress over the summer months. The delay is to ensure all steps of the process set out in the Data Sharing and Governance Agreement (DSGA) are met.
Five public bodies (Road Safety Authority, Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, Office of Government Procurement, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Tailte Eireann) are included in the UBI data sharing agreement, which may be expanded to include other bodies once implemented. The UBI, once established, will enable administrative efficiencies across the public sector and will also have downstream benefits for the production of official statistics.
The Board were informed of the discussion between three NSB members and Tailte Eireann that was held on Tuesday 7th May. The Board heard that the meeting was beneficial in getting Tailte Eireann’s view on their provision of the Eircode API. The Board heard that the end of July is a hard deadline where the API service from TE will cease. Most PSB are currently progressing their move to an alternative provider. There are a number of Eircode data providers who can provide the API service.
The Board discussed the Eircode being a public good and the need for free access to the Eircode for public bodies. The Board decided to write to DECC to convey this message again well in advance of the Eircode contract renewal process.
The Board discussed the progress being made in the CSO’s Data Stewardship role and in Irish Statistical System Code of Practice (ISSCOP) compliance and certification across the Civil and Public Service (CPS). The Board heard that the ISSCoP recertification takes place every 5 years and is currently being developed in collaboration with Revenue.
The Board noted that greater consideration must be given to the collection of administrative data required to support policy and evaluation needs of department as well their operational needs. The data requirements for policy evaluation are often neglected when setting up administrative systems. Greater consideration should be given to the future data requirements at the start of the setup process to facilitate ex-post analysis.
CSO’s role in this is to communicate the importance of collecting the appropriate data in administrative systems, which will allow Departments carry out required analyses and evaluations (current and future), and to facilitate the implementation of standard classifications and questions to be used in the administrative systems.
CSO need to take a system wide perspective and target the key departments to identify what data is not being collected and what is required to fulfil the data needs of the Irish Statistical System and ensure the system has sufficient data to make informed decisions. The NSB aims to support this work through its strategy.
The Board noted that there is a balance to be struck between data needs, the burden of administrative systems and expediency of processing. There is also a need for investment in IT systems, forms and improving systems across the CPS.
As part of good governance and to highlight the significant progress that has been made in the past 3 years the Board decided to undertake a mid-term review of the NSB Statement of Strategy. The review will highlight progress made under each priority and action and identify areas of strategic focus for the remaining duration of the strategy. The Board aims to have a draft for review at the September meeting and to publish the review before the end of 2024.
The Board received presentations on data collection in social surveys and on the Survey on Income and Living Conditions, as follows:
The Board thanked the presenters and their teams for all their work in the area, for introducing innovations to maintain response rates and on producing new and timely insights which keep the public and policy makers informed on the topics of poverty, income and well-being.
The Board noted the various Equivalence scales used by to calculate poverty rate by researchers in the area and suggested that this issue should be discussed further by the relevant stakeholders involved.
The Board received a presentation on the work of the International, Policy and Planning Division from Kevin Phelan (Statistician) and Ciaran Dooley (Senior Statistician).
The Board thanked the presenters and noted the extent of international engagement undertaken and contribution made by the CSO at EU and OECD level and the coordinating role the Division plays.
The Board received a presentation on the work of the Health & Social Cohesion Division from John Dunne (Senior Statistician). The Board welcomed the establishment of the Division and noted that it will be fundamental in delivering one of the key priorities of the NSB strategy.
The Board were reminded of NSB meeting dates in 2024.
Anne Vaughan, John Shaw and Eithne Fitzgerald, on behalf of the Board, marked Pádraig Dalton’s last NSB meeting by congratulating him on all he achieved in his CSO career and as DG for 12 years and paid tribute to his work ethic, passion, energy and commitment to the CSO and public service. It was a privilege for the Board to work with such a fine public servant.
The Board members had a private discussion.
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