NATIONAL STATISTICS BOARD

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Date: Thursday September 9, 2021 at 10.00am

Agenda

National Statistics Board

Minutes

The meeting took place remotely using video conferencing software.

Date:     Thursday 9th September 2021

Members present: Ms. Anne Vaughan (Chairperson), Ms. Eithne Fitzgerald, Mr. John Martin, Dr. Eimear Cotter, Mr. Gerard Brady, Mr. John Shaw, Mr. John McCarthy and Mr. Pádraig Dalton.

Non-members in attendance:  Mr. Paul Morrin (CSO Senior Management) and Ms. Claire Hanley (Secretary). Mr. Muiris O’Connor (Assistant Secretary, Department of Health) attended for item 5.

Item 1:  Minutes of NSB meeting June 10, 2021 (NSB 2021-4-2)

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.   

Item 2: CSO Director General’s Report to NSB (NSB 2021-4-3)

The Director General, Pádraig Dalton, briefed the Board on a number of recent strategic developments relating to the priorities and actions set out in the NSBs Strategic Priorities for official Statistics 2021-2026. The Board welcomed the update and the new format of the report. Some issues were discussed further, these included:    

• A resource was assigned in July 2021 to explore the production of real-time estimates by the CSO. The Board welcomed this development and asked about further use of Big Data. The Board supports further investment in Big Data sources and recognises the challenges in gaining access to such data.
• The Board asked about the selection of Pathfinder Projects and discussed their role in the selection of topics for such research projects. Currently, the topic selection is policy-led with input from CSO. It was agreed that the role of the Board in the selection of topics should be explored.
• The Board welcomed the engagement by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications with the NSB recommendation to explore Eircode as a public good and asked about the timeline. Discussions are currently underway, but no timeline has been agreed to date.
• The Board was updated on the planned publication by the CSO of Irish Population Estimates from Administrative Data Sources and discussed the importance of good governance and a strong communications strategy.
• The Board welcomed the provision of funding by the Department of Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for the digitisation of the 1926 Census. This allocation will allow the 1926 Census to be made available to the public online free of charge on 18 April 2026, 100 years after the taking of the Census.
• It was agreed that the Board would review the CSO Cloud Strategy when a draft is available.

Item 3:  CSO Estimates update

The Director General briefed the Board on recent developments in relation to the CSO’s budget application for 2022, including the challenges in the current environment and impact of key themes which are outside the core budget for the year. The Board discussed their role in supporting the CSO in its resource demands under the Statistics Act 1993.

Item 4: Draft Action Plan for NSB Strategy 2021-2026 (NSB 2021-4-4)

Claire Hanley (CSO) presented a brief outline of the Draft Action Plan for the NSB Strategy 2021-2026. The Board requested that the plan be further developed to include the following:

• Strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• More specific timelines once agreed at CSO Management Board post budget
• Ownership of actions including the role of non-CSO organisations
• Order of the recommendations based on level of importance
• Develop some actions further e.g. priority 8

The next draft will be circulated for feedback to the Board and finalised in advance of the December meeting.

Item 5:  Health Data – Challenges and next steps

Muiris O’Connor (Assistant Secretary, Department of Health) gave a presentation on Health Data in Ireland which included the lessons emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic; the development of the Health Data Strategy; and how the NSB can assist.

Muiris welcomed the engagement by the NSB in developing their Statement of Strategy and particularly for highlighting the significant gaps in the data infrastructure and the importance of aligning the health geographical units so that they can utilize the wider national statistical infrastructure for population-based planning.

Among the key lessons which emerged from the pandemic response were the importance of unique identifiers in linking information and in authenticating the identity of citizens engaging with the health service; and the value of the public sector collaboration and innovation that emerged, including the support of the CSO under the Statistics Act 1993, and the development of the COVID-19 Data Hub.

The emphasis the NSB placed on the importance of finalising the Health Data Strategy was welcomed and the need for a basis for health data in primary legislation, which would be based on the GDPR concept of intentionality, was outlined.

The NSB, in its role in guiding the strategic direction of the CSO, was asked to assist with the following challenges by keeping a focus on the development of specific actions in the NSB strategy relating to health data:

• Defining Official Statistics for HSE outputs
• Developing the role of the Health Division within the CSO
• Building upon structures developed for COVID-19 data

The Board thanked Muiris for his presentation and his team for all their hard work in informing key stakeholders during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some issues were discussed further, these included:

• Looking to the experience of other EU countries and building on this;
• Ensuring the ‘important’ is not driven out by the ‘urgent’;
• The importance of the common standards and classifications, and agreed vocabulary;
• Progressing the Individual Health Identifier (IHI) and its importance in ensuring the identity of the individual;
• Cyber security;
• The boundaries of health care and long-term care.

Item 6:  Any other business

The next meeting of the Board will take place on December 2, 2021. The possibility of a hybrid meeting will be explored. The Board agreed that the December meeting would address challenges for environment data as this is one of the key themes of the NSB strategy.

Item 7:  Private discussion

A short discussion took place for non-CSO Board members.