National Statistics Board
Minutes
Venue: Department of the Taoiseach
Date: Thursday 27th November, 2014
The following Board members attended:
Dr. Patricia O’Hara (Chairperson), Mr. Tom Geraghty, Ms. Rowena Dwyer, Dr. Helen Johnston, Mr. John Callinan, Mr. Gerard O’Neill, Mr. John McCarthy and Mr. Pádraig Dalton.
Mr. Joe Treacy, Dr. Lucy Fallon-Byrne, Mr. Richard McMahon and Ms. Jennifer Banim (members of the CSO’s Senior Management Committee) were also in attendance.
Mr. Donal Kelly acted as Secretary.
The Chairperson welcomed Mr. Richard McMahon and Dr. Lucy Fallon-Byrne to the Board meeting and congratulated them on their recent appointments as Assistant Director Generals in the CSO.
The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted without amendment.
The Director General briefed the Board on a number of recent developments within CSO and at European level.
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System of Health Accounts |
The first transmission of SHA results to Eurostat for 2013 data is scheduled for Quarter 2 2015 on a voluntary basis, with transmission of SHA required under regulation by April 2016. The analysis of data for hospital-related expenditure is progressing well in the HSE and the Department of Health. On the private health side, collection of data from private hospitals by the CSO started in August 2014 with almost full response by the end-September deadline. Collection of data from private health insurers was set in train via a workshop with the four major insurers in late July with all returns supplied by the October 31st deadline. |
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Eurostat dialog visit |
A Eurostat dialogue visit to the CSO on Government Finance Statistics will take place from November 26th to 28th. These regular on-site meetings are part of the EDP process and Eurostat will use the visit to discuss the recent migration to ESA 2010. |
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Sector allocation of Irish Water |
The sector allocation process for Irish Water will start when a business case for classification is submitted to the CSO. The CSO will make an initial assessment of Irish Water’s sector allocation based on the business case submitted. Eurostat - as the arbiter on the classification of public sector bodies under ESA 2010 and EDP legislation - will make the final sector classification decision on Irish Water. |
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National Accounts IT Project
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A key milestone for the National Accounts IT project occurs at the end of 2014 when the systems for the annual National Income and Expenditure statistics will be delivered. Coding and testing of all elements of the systems will be completed by end-November and an end-to-end test of the systems will be carried out in December. The next phase of training to support users in the new system will run in December, with further training scheduled in January 2015. |
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Environment Statistics |
The Environmental Accounts Air Emissions publication 2012 was published on November 6th, covering the years 2008 to 2012. The results show a 1.4% increase in greenhouse emissions between 2011 and 2012, the first annual increase in greenhouse gas emissions since 2005. |
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Framework Regulation for Business Statistics (FRIBS)
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At the request of the ESSC1, full business cases for the more contentious areas of FRIBS (e.g. SIMSTAT) have been requested and are in the progress of being finalised. In parallel to this, Ireland and some other countries are working with Eurostat on improving the project management processes for FRIBS, given its wide scope and impact. |
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SIMSTAT2 |
At the November ESSC meeting of Directors Generals, Eurostat presented an evaluation of SIMSTAT conducted by the Partnership Group Task Force on the implementation of the ESS Vision 2020. Concerns were expressed by NSI’s, including Ireland that the fundamental strategic decision on the exchange of confidential microdata was diversifying into three strands without agreement on the principal of exchanging confidential microdata to other NSI’s, Other National Authorities and Other National Authorities with a dual mandate. In response it was agreed to hold a one day seminar in the margins of the February ESSC to agree the strategic direction to be taken in regard to the exchange of confidential microdata. |
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Census |
The contract for the printing of the 2016 Census Forms and the development of the Census processing system has been finalised. The design of the Census form and updates to the system specifications has been underway since September under a letter of intent. |
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Household Survey Development Project |
The HSD project team is currently assessing the responses received to the tender for outsourcing of the Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing for the QNHS (Labour Force Survey). Development work on the new QNHS questionnaire is ongoing internally and two technical tests of the new questionnaire have been completed, with more to follow during 2015. |
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Crime Statistics
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The Garda Inspectorate Report on Crime Investigation published on November 11th 2014 raised issues with crime recording and classification by An Garda Síochána. The recorded crime statistics published by the CSO depend entirely on the Garda Síochána's systems and procedures to record crime, and as a result the CSO have decided not to publish the Q3 crime figures. The CSO is currently examining how the report's conclusions may impact on crime statistics and has agreed to chair an Expert Group on Crime Statistics which will be comprised of the CSO, Garda Siochana, Department of Justice and other independent stakeholders. The CSO expect to publish a more detailed response in due course, identifying to the extent possible the statistical impacts as regards coverage and classification. |
There was a detailed discussion of the SIMSTAT initiative and its potential implications for the quality of official statistics in Ireland. The DG indicated that while Eurostat were pressing ahead with a number of related technical projects they were neglecting significant strategic implications and the misgivings of some countries about the project. The DG pointed out that although the European rationale for SIMSTAT is better quality statistics on global value chains, the outcome could actually be poorer quality national data. The Board encouraged the CSO to continue to highlight the inherent risks to national statistical systems.
The Board discussed the apparent disparity between the measure of jobless households produced by the QNHS and the EU SILC surveys and the confusion this was causing at both national and EU level. The Director General explained that both surveys were designed to meet very different objectives: the best source of information on employment and jobless households is the QNHS, while the EU SILC survey is the best source of poverty and income information. The Board emphasised the importance of clear communication to users around issues such as this, as they have the potential to influence policy and distort public discourse.
The Board discussed the recent report of the Garda inspectorate, the implications of this report for CSO and trust in official statistics in general and the lessons to be learned for future engagement with administrative data sources.
The CSO’s 2015 Vote allocation in the Budget amounted to €52.056m. The CSO budget comprises a core allocation (i.e. for the production of continuous statistical outputs) and project funding (€14 million) for temporary statistical activities e.g. COP3, HBS4. CSO has maintained the 2014 level of core funding for 2015; the first time since 2008. In addition CSO has secured €900,000 additional funding to begin addressing urgent statistical demands (e.g. Macroeconomic and Environment), enhancing the use of administrative data and improving organisational governance.
The Board discussed the funding of CSO for 2015 and welcomed the maintenance of core funding and the additional funding allocated to meet priority statistical needs.
The Board reviewed the second draft of the new strategy document in detail. The focus and target audience for the strategy were discussed, and suggestions were made about the handling of key issues and the structure of the recommendations. Board members were invited to make further written comments before the next meeting.
The merits of a National Statistics Board seminar in the spring of 2015 to launch the Strategy document were discussed.
The next meeting of the Board will take place on February 5th 2015 at the Department of the Taoiseach.
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