Patricia O’Hara, Chair National Statistics Board and
Member European Statistical Governance Advisory
Board (ESGAB)
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NSB and ISS
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Trust and Quality
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ESS CoP and ESGAB
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Implementing the ISS CoP
P O'Hara, NSB
20/11/2013
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Statistics Act 1993
◦ 8 members
◦ Department of Taoiseach
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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.
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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)
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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
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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
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
CoP only works if understood, applied and
enforced – ongoing assessment essential
Engage citizens to maintain public
confidence
Separate oversight, scrutiny and assessment
from production and delivery
Labelling and assessment of ‘official
statistics’ is difficult in practice
Need for data sharing culture in
Departments
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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
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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
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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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