OPM report - World Bank



Report for the World Bank Trust Fund Project

Organisational Development and Governance of the National Statistical System

for

Statistics South Africa

By Mary Strode

Senior Statistician

Oxford Policy Management

June 2005

Preface/Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Statistician-General for supporting me in this mission, and for the personal support and understanding given to myself and my family during my son’s serious illness which caused the mission to be interrupted. I would also like to give special thanks to Dr. Letsebe for her advice and support during the mission.

Professor Kahimbaara and his team made special efforts to ensure this mission was fruitful and productive and I thank them for their time, hospitality and comradeship.

My thanks also go to all the staff at Statistics South Africa and the many people in government who gave up their time to assist me.

Executive Summary

Background

1. The development of the National Statistical System (NSS)[1] has made considerable progress over the life of the project particularly in raising awareness of the NSS among all parts of government, and forming partnerships with producer and user government bodies. Several consultants have worked on plans for the NSS, including a business plan, departmental audits and training. A step change in data quality in the wider statistical system of government departments will require an increase in resources and greater priority to be given to improving information systems. Additional resources will be required in the producing departments outside Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). This report looks at the governance and management systems required to establish the National Statistical System, and is the result of two missions to South Africa by the consultant.

Progress

2. The NSS development is part of the Government’s monitoring and evaluation (M & E) strategy which extends through all three tiers of government in the country. This M & E strategy is focused on improving service delivery and improving public sector effectiveness. It rests at the very heart of government. While good progress has been made in increasing awareness of the NSS and developing partnerships with departments, the Cabinet Office was not aware that little real progress had been reached with the NSS in improving data quality, indeed the Programme of Action on the Government website states that the NSS has been established and this gives the appearance that the task is completed or near to completion. The latest public posting[2] (7 March 2005) of the Government Programme of Action does not fully recognize the scope of the task required to put the NSS in place. Although the progress to date is commendable, more focus is required on improving the productive capacity of the NSS. Progress in productive capacity has been made by Stats SA with using Home Affairs data to produce a ‘causes of death’ series. The development of a productive NSS will require more than setting up a NSS Division in Stats SA and signing a number of Memoranda of Understanding, there is a major technical task ahead to achieve usable output from the NSS.

3. There is commitment to the development of the NSS at the highest level in government, and the Presidency reiterated this at two meetings during the mission. This commitment extends as far as the Director General level, but it was recognized that there were often blockages lower down in the Government service. The will to improve departmental information is lacking in some cases, and it will require interdepartmental decisions and actions to raise the priority of the NSS in departments to ensure action is taken. It is unlikely that Stats SA will be able to do this unaided. There is a danger that the launch of the NSS will provide a temporary smokescreen which masks the truth that little additional capacity to produce quality statistics from the wider NSS can be developed with the current level of resources and prioritisation.

Resources Needed to Develop Capacity in the NSS

4. While Stats SA has concerns about the quality of its own statistics, the very poor quality of other key government data should be of even greater concern to users. For example, a meeting with the Department of Education suggested that if their school survey data reached a quality level of 40% accuracy, then they would have made significant progress. Given the huge public expenditure programmes in health, education, housing and social development, the case to improve their reporting systems would seem to be overwhelming. As the majority of the information required is a by-product of management systems, the producing department has to be responsible for improving and maintaining data quality. Little can be done to replace poor quality or missing data after collection. The ‘rubbish in, rubbish out’ principles hold, if the data held by departments are incomplete, full of errors and incompatible with other statistics collected in the country, there is little that Stats SA can do to convert them to high quality statistics.

5. Previous reports in this series of missions have recommended the secondment of staff from Stats SA to other producing departments to improve data quality. Given the human resource constraints affecting South Africa and the priority given to producing and improving Stats SA’s own statistics, this proposition seems unlikely to be acted on. Furthermore, producing departments in the wider statistical system would benefit from taking more responsibility for the production and quality of their own statistics, they should be accountable for reporting on their own performance. Stats SA has the skills and the mandate to provide coordination, harmonization and coherence in the system. Stats SA could use its professional skills to assess and advise on improving quality which would enable the Statistician-General to certify statistics as having reached quality standards; and it could also provide archiving and data access to users.

Departmental Resource Needs

6. Ultimately departmental statistics from the NSS will be used by the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system, concentrating first on the key indicators used for the 10-year Review. Departmental internal registers and MIS systems will need to be improved to enable them to provide, as a by-product, key statistics of a quality standard which enables them to be declared official statistics. The improved data will enable departments, the government and other stakeholders to monitor output and performance, and the series selected for improvement should ideally be chosen with monitoring needs in mind. This quality improvement will involve changes in the working methods and practices of departmental staff and those from the provinces and cannot be accomplished by an external agency such as Stats SA. The work can be guided by Stats SA which will need to take a major role in harmonising classifications and definitions, and in quality assurance. The bulk of the work of improving the NSS must therefore rest with the producing departments themselves, who must be adequately resourced to undertake the task.

7. The majority of the resource requirements will be needed in the departments themselves to enable the reengineering of information systems to provide usable output and to improve coherence in the statistical system. The resources required have not yet been assessed, and depend largely on NSS priorities and the quality of existing statistics. This assessment is required in order to agree resources for NSS development. The requirements are likely to be financial support to replace information systems, redesign data collection activities, and training of staff and professional statistical input. Senior statistical human resource capacity will be required to improve or redesign data collection systems, maintain quality standards and to analyse the data. These skills are in short supply in the country and it is unlikely that Stats SA would want to second staff to departments for any significant period. In any case it is preferable for there to be sustainable statistical capacity in departments, and for statistical staff to be included on their establishments. The requirement for professional statisticians in departments will be on a continuing basis, although the bulk of the work needed to improve data quality and systems will be at the start of the action on each series.

8. Some consultants and short-term assignments may be required at the early stages of capacity building, when the workload is heaviest and the human resources most limited, although a permanent statistical capacity will be required in all key producer departments. It would be desirable for the Statistician-General to head this professional cadre, in order to maintain professional standards (such as ensuring respondent confidentiality), and to ensure statistical coordination. The UK model utilizes a common statistical service and each department has a head of statistics. This head is responsible for statistical standards and answerable to the Government Statistician in this respect, while working to a work schedule set by the departmental head. Data standards and policies are governed by a series of protocols.

9. Training for the wider statistical system and the production of newly trained professional statisticians for the whole of government needs to be a priority for NSS development and should be considered as one of the NSS resource needs. The Guteland report (February 2005) summarises the needs and options.

Role of Stats SA in the NSS

10. The consultant observed a common misunderstanding about the role of Stats SA in the NSS, right across government. Most people understood that Stats SA would take responsibility for improving NSS statistics and that the NSSD – a division of Stats SA - will provide the information for the NSS or at least unveil a ‘system’, which will provide the information. Producer departments are looking to Stats SA to provide the solution to their reporting problems. Stats SA in doing so would be shouldering a burden that it is unable to properly address. The consultant stressed to the Presidency the need to resource the NSS, both in Stats SA and in Departments. This must be clarified in order to make progress with the NSS. The main work needs to be carried out in departments, by departments themselves. The departments need to improve their registers and management information systems to produce quality assured information, with common concepts and definitions used across government.

11. The Statistician-General is empowered by law to harmonise definitions and standards for statistics produced by government. Stats SA can provide the professional knowledge input to improve and maintain data collection instruments, data systems, archiving and quality standards. Stats SA has neither the capacity to collect the data itself, nor to reengineer systems. The data in departments is typically of too poor a quality for Stats SA to make use of it at present. Work with education data has shown many inconsistencies and incompatibilities between provincial data sets. Home Affairs data has also been problematic; the approach that Stats SA has used to ‘lift’ Home Affairs data to create causes of death series has shown the need to improve collection and processing modalities in Home Affairs. Home Affairs is currently engaged on improving its data systems, in 2004 an invitation was extended to Stats SA to become involved in a working group to develop systems. This invitation has not yet been taken up, even though it is this sort of input to departmental work that could ensure that sustainable improvements are made in departmental statistical work. It is recommended that Stats SA participates in this work.

12. The Statistician-General is also responsible for certifying statistics as official statistics once acceptable standards have been met. In doing this he will be guided by the Statistics Council and assisted by staff from Stats SA. Ultimately Stats SA will be responsible for assessing data quality, and a quality review mechanism for NSS statistics will be required.

Priorities for the NSSD in Stats SA

13. The NSSD in Stats SA cannot achieve much progress without departments being willing to make major improvements in their own data systems, and without the active participation of other divisions in Stats SA. NSSD has only two qualified statisticians available, much of their time is spent making departmental statistics available to users or developing indicators with external users. While this is a very useful exercise in developing a results-based culture, in terms of improving productive capacity it is merely ‘tinkering at the edges’ of the problem. Attempts to address monitoring needs are too often of an ad hoc nature; this is inevitable when sustainable capacity is absent as urgent demands have to be met. However the transaction costs are high. NSSD has too few resources to attempt extensive ad hoc activities, and to foster sustainable capacity. Until NSSD input is combined with departmental support and resources it is unlikely that the NSS will produce much fruit.

14. The Deputy Director General responsible for the NSSD asked that priorities for the NSSD be considered in this mission. It does seem that too few resources are too widely spread, and that the development of the NSS would benefit from a concerted effort on one particular activity. While existing client contact must be maintained, it is recommended that the NSSD concentrate on holding an Indicators Forum to establish priorities, on supporting a working party arising from the Forum, to assess the resources necessary to develop key series in the NSS; and in drafting the necessary protocols and guidance to establish a working NSS.

15. The NSSD would benefit from a ‘quick win’ but this will be difficult to achieve in the context of improving productive capacity in the NSS. Improvement of entire series will take a considerable period of time and will require resources in departments and expertise from other parts of Stats SA. Initially NSSD should work with Policy Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS) on agreeing priorities, assessing resource needs and receiving endorsement for these recommendations at the highest level. More information and publicity about the roles and responsibilities of the NSS partners is urgently required by potential NSS partners. This must be followed up with protocols and procedures for statistical integration, data confidentiality and quality assurance.

16. The current Memoranda of Understanding are a major step forward, but additional protocols will be needed as data production moves forward. Once work turns to improvement of priority series it would be advisable for Stats SA to work with a single department on a key series which figures prominently nationally and internationally. The department should also have shown willingness to participate in NSS activities and have an understanding of the requirement to report on its activities to users beyond the department. The Department of Education would satisfy these criteria and has already worked with NSSD staff. NSSD staff are familiar with the available data and some of its weaknesses. Education staff have also recognized the need to revise the instruments, and to ensure universal coverage of schools. The Annual Survey of Schools would be an ideal series for early activity in improving the productive capacity of the NSS. Initially some Stats SA staff would need to work with departmental staff, but the department should take steps early on in the process to recruit a statistician to take responsibility for the task.

Governance of the NSS – Priority Setting

17. The allocation of resources and the setting of NSS priorities is a central function of government and are beyond the remit of the Statistician-General (SG) alone. The driver for NSS development needs to come from a higher, cross-cutting authority in government and this would seem to be the Governance and Administration Cluster, or the Presidency itself. PCAS has a major role to play in determining priorities and reviewing progress in the Government Programme of Action. Statistical priorities for the M & E system should ultimately be in the hands those responsible for coordinating the monitoring systems within government.

18. Governance of the NSS is required to prioritise activities, give political impetus, and to facilitate the required resources. Given that the Presidency and PCAS are responsible for coordinating policies across government and monitoring their performance, ultimately governance of the monitoring system rests there. As Goldstein points out, Stats SA reports to the Minister of Finance whose primary interest is in economic statistics; setting priorities in the wider NSS requires guidance from Cabinet or Presidential level. Clear recommendations, based on evidence will be needed by the top decision makers; these should be researched and developed in a consensual manner which is a prerequisite for working across departments and levels of government in the country. The Governance and Administrative Cluster is responsible for most government functions and would be an appropriate governance structure to guide and monitor the development of the NSS and the indicator system. The responsibility for investigating monitoring needs and priorities rests with PCAS, while a review of the technical requirements for producing statistics of appropriate quality rests with Stats SA and ultimately the SG.

19. Work is required to forge agreement of the priority set of series to be strengthened, and their relationship to the M & E system. Experience worldwide in developing monitoring systems shows that the development of indicator systems must be carried out with data availability in mind. An indicator with no data to populate it is of no value. Development of the NSS must be carried out in harmony with the development of M & E systems. The previous Ten Year Review[3] used indicators for which there was very little reliable data. It is recommended that the work commence by reaching agreement on the priorities for the NSS against the progress made with monitoring government performance. PCAS has offered to host a forum or workshop which brings together the M & E specialists from each department to review performance. This would be an excellent forum for reaching agreement on indicator and statistical priorities.

Governance of the NSS – Reporting and Monitoring Structures

20. It is recommended that the proposals for strengthening the NSS and the monitoring system feed into the Governance and Administration (G & A) cluster from work commissioned by PCAS and supported by Stats SA. The Statistician-General is part of the G & A Cluster Directors General. From the Cluster, recommendations would be proceed to Cabinet. The Head of the Cabinet Office recommended a Cabinet memorandum, attached to which is a report outlining the priories and resources required for the development of NSS capacity.

21. The output of the Forum, besides a recommended set of priorities, might also be the establishment of a small working party, comprising the M & E experts responsible for the key series, departmental statisticians and Stats SA. The Statistics Council, which is responsible for standards of statistical data quality across government, should be approached to join the working party, as should the Public Service Commission which is currently investigating indicator development in government. This working party should have as its terms of reference a mandate to make recommendations on the resources required to strengthen statistical capacity in order to provide the key series required by the monitoring systems. It should be noted that the NSS should not attempt to reform all the statistical series in any department simultaneously, but should restrict itself to the key information needs and series. The Guteland and Strode report has noted a vast number of statistics in departments, and not all can be tackled at once.

22. Progress on the NSS should be reported to the G & A cluster on a regular, perhaps six-monthly, basis by PCAS and the Statistician-General.

Quality and coordination in the NSS

23. It is recommended that Stats SA and the NSSD draft protocols to govern the NSS, and that these are formally adopted by the Statistician-General and incorporated into the process of agreeing memoranda of understanding with participating partners. These protocols need to be incorporated in the memoranda of understanding before joint working can progress in a coordinated manner.

24. The protocols which Stats SA might consider producing are as follows;

1. Data release and access

2. Quality management and metadata recording

3. Process for adopting official statistics

4. Professional standards for government statisticians

5. Statistical integration, concepts and definitions

6. Data sharing and confidentiality considerations

7. Compendium of definitions and classifications

NSSD Organisation

25. The NSSD is currently split between activities which develop indicators and monitoring systems; report on progress against indicators; and build sustainable capacity in the NSS. It may be desirable to separate clearly these activities between PCAS and the responsible divisions in Stats SA. Capacity building activities may sit more comfortably in the quality branch in Stats SA, whereas the provision of information to users should remain a Stats SA function, but perhaps be aligned more closely with information and marketing functions. Some of the indicator development functions might transfer to PCAS. These recommendations are made in order to integrate the work of the NSSD with the rest of departmental activities in Stats SA and to further strengthen joint working with PCAS.

26. More publicity is required for the NSS to correct misunderstandings both inside Stats SA and beyond. It is strongly recommended that the NSS web page be rewritten to clarify the purpose of the NSS, the expected output, the roles and responsibilities of the partners, and the proposals for development. The NSS newsletter is helpful, but much confusion exists about the NSS and its activities. It may be advantageous to change the name of the activity to give more impetus to the development of sustainable capacity for monitoring. GINIS (Government Indicators and National Information System) was suggested at a meeting with PCAS.

Dissemination

27. The NSS users would benefit from a single source for obtaining NSS and indicator information. A single source in Stats SA would enable users to obtain certified consistent information with metadata and appropriate ‘health warnings’. Currently the NSSD is working on adapting the Africa Live Database for this purpose. The consultant looked briefly at this software with the NSSD team member responsible. The database seems unsuitable for the task. It was set up to house SADC wide information at a regional level. It does not access the raw data directly, but relies on the individual indicator values being input either from the keyboard or from output from another system. This is not ideal. PCAS were asked for the number of dimensions they required for each indicator (i.e. breakdowns by age, sex, race, province etc.), it is likely that they will require many. It was calculated that for each indicator to be available in cells of 5 dimensions 1,400 lines of text would need to be input. For MIS data this is a large task as it would be hoped that the information would be updated annually or more frequently. I learned that Botswana and several other countries had made similar observations on the database limitations. It is recommended that a technical review is carried out of the adequacy of the database and recommendations made for the adoption of more suitable software. The Africa Live Database could be used as an interim measure, but may not be suitable to house the system.

Proposed Organisational Chart for the NSS

28. A diagram, Figure 2, indicating the proposed relationships of the partners in the NSS is found at the start of Section 5 of this report. This puts departmental and associated provincial series at the heart of the system, with prioritisation and resource allocation emanating from Cabinet, via the Governance and Administration Cluster. Stats SA, the Council and PCAS provide substantive inputs into coordination, quality and maintaining common standards.

Conclusions

29. The NSSD has made good progress with developing a results-based culture and working with partners in the NSS, but effort is now required to develop more productive capacity. Agreeing the priorities and the resources required to deliver the information required for key monitoring series should be the first step in improving the productive capacity of the NSS. It is recommended that the NSSD work with PCAS to recommend priorities and a timetable for the NSS which are linked closely to the government indicators system. The indicators forum proposed by PCAS would be an excellent opportunity to review progress with developing the monitoring system and the statistical series required to run it. The output of the workshop could be recommended priorities for indicators and the statistical series and information required to populate them. This could be followed up by a working party comprising departmental M & E experts, statisticians, Stats SA, the Statistics Council and the Public Service Commission who would review capacity in departments and make recommendations on the resources required to deliver statistics of an acceptable quality in the NSS, and propose a timetable for action. Stats SA would play a major role in assessing quality and resource requirements. The main resources required will be at departmental level, rather than in Stats SA, with departments taking responsibility for providing data of a quality which enables the Statistician-General to certify it as of a sufficient quality to be declared official statistics.

30. More clarity is required in respect of responsibilities for the NSS. Stats SA cannot be expected to provide NSS data; this has to be the responsibility of each Department concerned. The necessary improvements in departmental data systems will affect the working practices of Departments. The current perception that Stats SA will provide the data should be corrected; Stats SA can provide the professional guidance and quality assessment. The improvements needed are at departmental level. Some departments appear reluctant to make the appropriate steps, perhaps because of resource constraints or concerns about confidentiality. Development of the NSS requires direction and monitoring from a high level of the administration.

31. Resources will be required at departmental level, and a professional statistics cadre, with statisticians in departments throughout government may be a mechanism to ensure that appropriate standards are maintained. The Statistical-General would be responsible for professional standards and quality assessment. A series of agreed protocols on statistical coordination, integration, standards and confidentiality will be required to govern the system. The Statistics Council also has a legal mandate to oversee quality in departmental statistics.

32. Closer cooperation of the NSSD with Stats SA will be required to develop protocols for statistical integration and the Memoranda of Understanding with participating departments in the NSS will need to incorporate these protocols.

33. The setting of priorities and monitoring of progress in the NSS will be required at a high level of government. As NSS development will require interdepartmental working and responsibilities, an appropriate level would be the Governance and Administrative Cluster, reporting to Cabinet. It is recommended that PCAS and Stats SA work on developing a Cabinet Memorandum and associated report outlining priorities to for developing the statistical series required to drive the government monitoring system. This report was requested by the Head of the Cabinet Office.

Table of Contents

Preface/Acknowledgements 2

Executive Summary 3

List of Tables and Figures 12

1. Context 13

2. Background to the Development of the NSS 15

3. Current NSSD Activities and Priorities 17

4. Development of the NSS – Prevailing Attitudes 19

5. Recommended NSS Roles and Responsibilities 21

6. Management and Requirements for NSS Development 25

7. Recommended Next Steps and NSS Governance 30

8. Provincial Statistics in the NSS 35

9. Conclusions 36

References/Bibliography 38

Appendices 39

Appendix A: UK Government Statistical service 40

Appendix B: New Zealand NSS Prioritisation 41

Appendix C: Current NSS Webpage 44

Appendix D – Potential Official Statistics 45

Abbreviations 49

List of Persons Met 50

List of Tables and Figures

Figure 1: Governments Stated Programme of Action – March 2005 16

Figure 2 NSS Governance 20

Table 1 Protocols Released to Date by UK ONS 25

Table 2 Summary of Principles - Statistical Integration 25

Figure 3: Extracts for Statistics Act Relevant to Data Access 28

Table 3: NSS Roles and Responsibilities 32

Figure 4 Case Study New Zealand 34

1. Context

This mission is part of a series of missions from several consultants intended to support Statistics SA to develop a national statistical system beyond Statistics South Africa. In particular this mission is a follow-up to the ‘Statistical and Policy Audit of National Policy Structures and National Departments in South Africa’ conducted by Gösta Guteland and Mary Strode in July 2004. The mission was conducted in two parts, December 2004 and March 2005.

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference ask the consultant to provide advice on ‘The development and design of appropriate mechanisms for the governance and management of the NSS in South Africa as well as the development of a strategy for rolling out the NSS at the provincial level. This should be conducted against the background of Statistics South Africa’s mandate to establish a National Statistics System (NSS) in conjunction with Policy Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS) in the Presidency.’ Specifically the consultant is requested to consider the following issues.

• Development of terms of reference for and composition of a Working Party on NSS-statistics at each pilot department. These terms of reference include a documentation of existing databases, datasets, registers, and management information systems, as well as identification of potential official statistics from these sources.

• Development of a structure for a Steering Committee to be established to oversee/monitor development of the NSS, and identification of the membership of this committee. An introductory meeting with the departments that are concerned ought to be organised during the mission.

• Development and design of a structure, including an organogram, for the governance and management of the NSS as a whole. The consultant will define relationships among the elements of the structure as well as responsibilities for each of the elements.

• Clarify what is expected of the Statistician-General (as the head of official statistics in South Africa), the Statistics Council and Statistics South Africa within the NSS.

• Development of a strategy for rolling out the NSS at provincial level, identifying how the provincial administrations can be engaged and involved.

• Holding user consultations with The Presidency, Clusters and Department of Finance, to develop a costed work program within the context of the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF).

The consultant established a working party meeting for Home Affairs and Stats SA. Both departments were instrumental in agreeing the format and the agenda, with Home Affairs taking the lead. This was intended to act as a pilot for the governance for an inter-departmental working party. Despite initial enthusiasm from Home Affairs, most of the key personnel from Home Affairs did not attend the meeting, and attempts to revive the meeting during the second part of the mission were unsuccessful, due to competing priorities. It was agreed with the NSSD manager that a top down approach to establishing working committees might be more fruitful.

It proved to be impossible to meet with senior staff from the other two identified departments during the mission; again this was due to more urgent priorities and management changes and vacancies. Gosta Guteland was similarly unsuccessful at meeting some of the key departmental senior staff, both of us were unable to secure appointments with the Department of Health. Providing a costed work programme is expected to be a large task, and recommendations have been made on how this can be achieved by the relevant organisations. A thorough review of Departmental data quality and systems will be required in order to make an accurate resource needs assessment, this will require the full cooperation of participating departments, and the quality branch of Stats SA.

The initial terms of reference anticipated a Steering Committee, but following recommendations of key stakeholders and previous consultants it was agreed that it was preferable to include the governance of the NSS in existing governmental arrangements. This option was endorsed by the Cabinet Office. A visit to the Cabinet Office in the latter part of the mission provided the consultant and the NSS manager with clear direction on the future of the NSS and the steps required to implement the development of the NSS. The consultant was asked to prepare a report summarizing the recommendations for the development of the NSS. A brief Cabinet Memorandum would be required in order to agree priorities and allocate resources. Before her departure, the consultant left in South Africa a summary paper for use by the NSSD Manager.

2. Background to the Development of the NSS

The National Statistical System has made great progress over the life of the project, and this culminated in the Address of the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, at the Second Joint sitting of the third Democratic Parliament, Cape Town 11 February 2005, the President promised that ‘ During the course of this year we will speed up the implementation of the comprehensive plan to improve the capacity of the National Statistics System, including Statistics SA.’ This was in the context of ‘improving the machinery of government so that wherever we are, each one of us, is inspired to act as servants of the people.’

It is publicly reported that;

6.01 The National Statistical System has been established to develop a strong culture of information collection, collation and management to support good governance and developmental initiatives[4]

It is important for the NSS Division in Stats SA (NSSD) to seize the moment and advance the NSS at a time when the political will to make progress is at its highest level. If the NSS is delayed or fails to deliver on specific objectives demanded by the country’s most senior policy makers, then the opportunity is unlikely to come again.

It was reported by the Presidency that the demand for the development the NSS comes from the highest level of Government, including the Directors’-General of Departments. Yet over the life of this project the consultants have observed a lack of enthusiasm to press forward with the NSS, both amongst senior professionals and managers in Stats SA and amongst some Departments in Government. This lack of enthusiasm among implementing agencies for the NSS is curious given the political imperatives. In the view of the consultant, it is partly a question of lack of human resources and competing demands on their time; partly concerns about loss of autonomy, but also there is also a sense that the task ahead is large and may not be manageable. The task ahead requires staff to work outside their departmental ‘comfort zones’. Development of the NSS will require interdepartmental working, and hierarchies and time schedules often mitigate against this.

During this mission it was suggested that part of the reluctance was because of misunderstandings about the roles and responsibilities of the partners in the NSS, with an expectation that Stats SA would provide a technical fix, to deliver the NSS to participating departments. If this is the case then it is important to correct this view quickly, and at the highest level.

The Government regularly publishes on the world wide web, its Programme of Action. The report sets out the priorities and programmes arising from the Cabinet Lekgotla and the President's State of the Nation address. Progress on this programme is regularly monitored by the Policy Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS) of the Presidency, this is publicly stated as follows;

'The Government has also agreed that we should use the system of Cabinet Committees to monitor and co-ordinate the implementation of the Programme of Action. This will be done once every two months, bringing together Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Directors-General who belong to the various clusters to consider progress with regard to the tasks relating to each Cluster. This will improve co-ordination to ensure that the programmes of the various Ministries and Departments are consistent with one another.'[5]

The NSS is mentioned in the Programme of Action, but the activities are loosely defined. In order to make progress, some clear monitorable steps are required with which to assess progress. These will be discussed later in the report in Section 7, Table 3.

Figure 1: Governments Stated Programme of Action – March 2005

| |Actions | Departments |  |

|1. Review of Progress and priorities|Indicator Forum |PCAS |Departmental M & E Experts |

| | | |Public Service Commission |

| | | |Stats SA |

| | | |Stats Council |

|2. Priority Recommendations for NSS |Indicators Forum |PCAS |As above |

|development | | | |

|3. Report on Resource Requirements |Working Party |PCAS |As above |

|for NSS | | | |

|4. Road Map for GINI and increasing |Working Party |PCAS |As above |

|NSS capacity | | | |

|5. Endorsement of Priorities, |G & A Cluster |PCAS |Cluster members |

|Resources & Road Map | | | |

|6. Approval |Cabinet |PCAS |Cabinet members |

|7. Monitoring |G & A Cluster |PCAS |Cluster members |

|8. Standards & definitions revision |Stats SA |Stats SA |Stats SA and Departmental |

|throughout NSS | | |statisticians |

|9. Implementation |Departments |DG Departments |supported by expertise from Stats SA|

|10. Designation of Official |Statistician-General |Statistician-General |Advised by Statistics Council |

|Statistics | | | |

|11. Reviewing Quality Standards |Statistician-General |Stats SA |Advised by Statistics Council |

|12. Dissemination & metadata capture|Stats SA & departments |Stats SA |Stats SA & Departments |

Prioritisation Processes – New Zealand Model

The New Zealand Review Team developed a list of values and principles to guide them in selecting statistical series for improvement. The details can be found in Appendix B but these reflect what are termed;

A. Statistical Values Propositions (Principles)

i. Maintaining confidence in official statistics

ii. maintaining the confidence of respondents

iii. maximise the utility and minimise the cost of official statistics

B. UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (1994)[12]

C. Principles of Good Governance

Clarity of roles – particularly agencies understanding their role

• Transparency – particularly agencies understanding how and why decisions are made

• Accountability – particularly agencies are accountable to others for their actions and the agreed delivery of outputs on time.

Figure 4 Case Study New Zealand

New Zealand as recently as 2003 undertook a Top Down Review of the Official Statistics System. The findings of the review team look remarkably familiar, and perhaps also give indications of future problems which might be faced by South Africa if the system is not well coordinated at an early stage in its development.

The Review Team found wide acceptance of the need for significant improvements in the overall co-ordination and management of the official statistics system:

a. Management of the official statistics system. The current system is characterised by a weak and fragmented co-ordination and management model and is not consistently focussed on the important statistics. In line with Government’s direction outlined in the Review of the Centre, there needs to be stronger management and co-ordination of statistics to get the most value from the Government’s investment in statistical activity.

b. Better management of access to statistical data. The current weak co-ordination of the official statistics system has resulted in inconsistent access to statistical data. This has resulted in significant under utilisation of existing data and statistics to inform policy decisions and evaluative activities.

c. Differing standards and policies currently being applied by departments. These reduce the ability of researchers to utilise data from across the state sector. Greater consistency in the adoption of standards and in the documentation of existing data sources would facilitate access and location of data, and allow greater integration of data from different sources.

d. Better use of existing government statistics. There is significant potential to better utilise the existing stock of information within government without undertaking new surveys.

e. Contract surveys under the Statistics Act. Conflict has arisen in the past between departments and Statistics New Zealand over contract surveys. Departments have expectations as purchasers of Statistics New Zealand surveys to ‘own’ data provided by respondents and to have full access to the data and results. On the other hand, the Government Statistician has an obligation to maintain trust in Statistics New Zealand produced statistics and give effect to the Statistics Act 1975. This requires Statistics New Zealand to retain control of the full statistics production process including access and release protocols. These two conflicting interests have resulted in some heat over access to data between departments and Statistics New Zealand.

f. The New Zealand authorities, realizing that resources could not stretch to all potential official statistics agreed a set of priority statistical series across government for improvement. These series were chosen because of their policy importance, and not by the organ producing them. The set of statistics were chosen by a committee of Chief Executives chaired by the Government Statistician who recommend that the series be officially recognized by regulation. These are then subject to standards, protocols and policies set by the Government Statistician.

3. Provincial Statistics in the NSS

The consultant visited KwaZulu Natal Provincial Statistics Office and met with the Provincial Statistical Officer, the NSS statistician to the Province and representatives from the Office of the Premier. The provincial government was data hungry, and anxious to establish a provincial monitoring system, while the statisticians had difficulty in serving the growing needs of the users. Provincial breakdowns were required of Stats SA information and much advice and technical support was demanded by users and those wanting to generate specific provincial data, statistics and studies. In particular the province was wanting to link its statistics with a GIS system, an area of expertise in which the Provincial NSS statistician had expertise.

While a number of Provincial administrations were keen to join the NSS, the consultant is concerned that expectations are high, and that these may not be satisfied by the NSS in its current form. Once expectations are disappointed the notion of an NSS may be devalued or come into disrepute. The NSSD is agreeing MoUs with several government bodies, while this clearly represents a demand for more statistics at all levels of government, it may not be possible to service all these bodies. The province required help with establishing a monitoring system, and in commissioning special studies. This is additional to the needs of the NSS in establishing statistical series for the key indicators at national level. It is recommended that decisions are made about the level of resources which may become available to provinces, for series which are specific to provinces, and for those which also contribute to the national series.

National series also have a value at the provincial and local level. For instance if the national schools survey is strengthened, then better data on educational output and outcomes would be available at provincial and local level. Almost all departmental statistics, which are a by-product of administrative systems will be actually collected at provincial or lower levels of government. Experience from other countries indicates that where statistics are used at lower levels of administration, the quality tends to improve. This is because the completers of the forms are closer to the immediate users and are more likely to recognise their importance, or to have the utility of the statistical by-product reinforced by their managers.

Special provincial data may also be required, which do not directly contribute to national monitoring systems. This is a decision that will need to be made by national and provincial government. Provincial governments may be able to provide some resources themselves which could be enhanced or trained by Stats SA staff.

It is recommended that the priority series identified for development by the PCAS Forum and endorsed by the G & A cluster and Cabinet be extended to the Provinces. Not all provincial statistics may be able to be strengthened initially.

4. Conclusions

The development of the national statistical system requires governance at a high level, beyond that of a single department or Minister of State. During the course of the mission it was agreed that the first step was to obtain high level direction for prioritising activities in the NSS. An appropriate mechanism for developing these priorities this would be the Indicator Forum proposed by PCAS. This would bring together senior monitoring and evaluation specialists from departments to review progress in the implementation of the Government’s monitoring and indicator system. Monitoring priorities and the deficiencies of the underlying data systems would be expected to emerge from this Forum. The emerging priorities would be submitted to the Governance and Administration Cluster and then for approval at Cabinet.

Subsequently a working party could be established to investigate the resource requirements needed to put in place or improve existing management information systems and registers for the priority statistics identified. It is recommended that the NSS concentrate on these priority statistical series, not the entire statistical capacity of a department. Sub-committees may be required at departmental level to investigate quality and improvement strategies, Stats SA should have a key role in conducting this assessment.

The resources required to bring the priority series up to standard, will mainly be required at departmental level. Departments should have responsibility for data improvement and its quality, using some professional input from Stats SA in the area of design, statistical integration and quality assessment. It should not be the direct responsibility of Stats SA to bring series up to standard and to maintain them. Data quality will require changes in practices in departments and may mean staff new procedures and data collection instruments. It would be desirable for departmental statisticians to be included in departmental establishments.

Once resource requirements have been assessed, together with a realistic resource bound timetable, the findings should be submitted to the Cluster and to Cabinet for approval. It is recommended that progress is reviewed by the Cluster at regular intervals, and that the process of giving impetus to the development of the NSS is taken up at high level in the Administration.

The Statistician-General has the legal responsibility for coordinating the national statistical system and for declaring statistics as official, once quality requirements have been met. The Statistics Council also has oversight of national statistics in quality matters. However Stats SA is not charged with producing statistics from other organs of state. In order for quality to be improved and for statistics in the national system to be declared official, it is recommended that protocols and guidance be produced by Stats SA and agreed with participating members of the NSS. Issues of confidentiality of shared data should be specifically addressed. In additional it would be desirable for departmental statisticians to become part of a common statistical professional body, with the Statistician-General enforcing professional standards throughout government.

More information is required by partners about the roles and responsibilities in the NSS. The central role of the departments in producing NSS data must be emphasised, with Stats SA in a supporting role. It is recommended that the NSS Division in Stats SA rationalise and prioritise its work in line with the agreed NSS priorities, and work more closely with the quality and methodology branches in Stats SA. Provincial activities might also focus on improving the priority series identified for action. Not everything can be done at once.

Further action for the NSS should take the form of supporting the Indicator Forum, Working Party and developing protocols for the NSS. The legal issues implicit in data sharing should also be explored with the Attorney General’sOffice.

References/Bibliography

1. Draft Memorandum of Understanding between Statistics South Africa and The Policy Coordination and Advisory Services in the Presidency: Relating To Their Partnership In Establishing A National Statistics System That Will Coordinate Statistical Data And Integrate The Generation Of Development Indicators For Monitoring And Evaluation Of Government Development Programmes. March 2005

2. Memorandum of Understanding between Statistics South Africa and The Province of Kwazulu Natal: Relating To Their Partnership In The National Statistics System, Which Partnership Is Given Expression In Collaboration Between The Two Parties On Identified Areas Of Technical Expertise For Supporting And Promoting A Culture Of Measurement In Government. 11 November 2004

3. Memorandum of Understanding between Statistics South Africa and The Department of Minerals and Energy: Relating To Their Partnership In The National Statistics System, Which Partnership Is Given Expression In Collaboration Between The Two Parties On Identified Areas Of Technical Expertise as set out Hereunder. 14 October 2004

4. South Africa: The Statistics Act, No. 6 of 1999

5. Statistics New Zealand: The Final Top Down Stage 2 Report

6. Office of National Statistics: National Statistics Code of Practice – Protocol on Data Access and Confidentiality, Version 1; London; HMSO. 2004

7. Gösta Guteland and Mary Strode: Statistical and Policy Analysis Audit of National Policy Structures and National Departments in South Africa, Camire and OPM Ltd., July 2004

8. Leo Goldstein: Report of the Advisory Mission to Develop a Strategic Plan of a National Statistics System for Statistics South Africa, World Statistics Ltd. February 2005

Appendices

Appendix A: UK Government Statistical service

1 UK Government Statistical Service

i. The UK Government Statistical Service (GSS) is a decentralised organisation which is spread across most Government Departments. The Head of the GSS is the National Statistician who is also the Director of the Office for National Statistics.

ii. The GSS comprises about 7,000 civil servants who work in the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in 30 or more other UK Government Departments, or in the two devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. The primary function of these staff is to collect, analyse and disseminate statistics. Although the equivalent staff in Northern Ireland are not part of the GSS, they work very closely with the GSS and share a common professional culture.

iii. Staff in the GSS operate within an ONS-administered personnel framework which sets standards for recruitment, qualifications, competence and training. GSS staff come under the managerial authority of a designated Head of Profession for Statistics.

iv. Each of the three devolved administrations, and every UK Government Department or Agency which has a significant GSS 'presence' - that is, it produces or uses GSS statistics - has its own designated Statistical Head of Profession (HoP). These HoPs and the Chief Statisticians in the devolved administrations (excluding Northern Ireland), and all the staff whom they manage, constitute the Government Statistical Service.

v. The majority of HoPs are members of the Senior Civil Service but in the smaller Departments the post is likely to be filled by either a Grade 7 or a Grade 6 Statistician. The National Statistician is the Head of Profession in the Office for National Statistics but, in practice, delegates some of his HoP responsibilities to the Heads of the four ONS Statistical Directorates.

Appendix B: New Zealand NSS Prioritisation

B. New Zealand Example of Prioritisation

New Zealand 2003 Top Down Review of National Statistical System

a. Identification of a set of important statistics (Tier 1). Tier 1 statistics are a defined set of key official statistics that are performance measures of New Zealand. The identification of Tier 1 statistics is primarily based on the purpose of the statistic and not 'who' produces the statistics. The list of Tier 1 statistics will be developed by a committee of Chief Executives, chaired by the Government Statistician, who will make a recommendation to ministers that the list be published as a regulation.

b. Application of a consistent set of standards, protocols, and policies for Tier 1 statistics. The Government Statistician will set standards, protocols, and policies to be applied to Tier 1 statistics and therefore maximise the ability to integrate, compare and use such statistics across the state sector.

c. The Minister of Statistics will approve all new or substantially revised Tier 1 surveys to ensure standards as defined above are being met.

d. Leadership by the Government Statistician of the development of the official statistics system through the development of standards, protocols and policies, the use of Statistics New Zealand's expertise and capability and a strong programme of statistical research.

e. Independent Advice and Review. The Advisory Committee on Official Statistics (ACOS) will represent the interests of the wider statistical community, including users, producers, and suppliers of statistical data to ensure that official statistics, particularly Tier 1 are developed to meet the needs of users and producers.

f. Accessing and releasing statistics

i. Users will be able to access a full list of available statistics produced by government.

ii. Users will be able to use a variety of methods to access Tier 1 statistics, and

iii. Release of Tier 1 statistics will be by Chief Executive of the producing agency according to a calendar of release dates published at least six months in advance.

g. A single point of access to Tier 1 unit record survey and administrative data. A new business unit will be set up in Statistics New Zealand called the Official Statistics Research and Data Archival Centre (OSRDAC). OSRDAC will provide a single reference point for unit record data for Tier 1 statistics for government, university and other researchers. Statistics New Zealand will promote, manage transparently, and reduce current cost of access for OSRDAC.

1 How will the findings of the Top Down Review be implemented?

Government has supported improvements to the official statistics system which consist of 11 initiatives. Together, the initiatives will form a consistent and coherent official statistics system across government. The Government Statistician, with the support of other Public Service Chief Executives whose agencies provide official statistics, will implement the initiatives progressively over several years. The initiatives are:

1. Identification of a set of important statistics (Tier 1). Tier 1 statistics are a defined set of key official statistics that are performance measures of New Zealand. The identification of Tier 1 statistics is primarily based on the purpose of the statistic and not the producer of the statistics.

2. Broadening the coverage of official statistics to include statistics produced by a class of Crown entities to be known as Crown Agents. Producers of Tier 1 statistics outside the proposed scope of departments and Crown Agents need to be invited to come within the scope.

3. Application of a consistent set of standards, protocols and policies for Tier 1 statistics. The Government Statistician, in consultation with departments, will set standards, protocols and policies to be applied to Tier 1 statistics and therefore maximise the ability to integrate, compare and use such statistics across the State sector.

4. The Minister of Statistics will approve all new or substantially revised Tier 1 surveys to ensure standards as defined above are being met.

5. Leadership by the Government Statistician of the development of the official statistics system through the development of standards, protocols and policies; that facilitate Statistics New Zealand’s supporting other departments to improve or obtain the necessary expertise and capability to improve the quality and efficiency of Tier 1 statistics. Included in this element is a strong research programme to inform users and producers about the quality and effectiveness of Tier 1 statistics, and develop new statistical series from existing data sources.

6. Independent advice and review. An Advisory Committee on Official Statistics (ACOS) to the Minister of Statistics and Cabinet will represent the interests of the wider statistical community, including users, producers, and suppliers of statistical data to ensure that official statistics, particularly Tier 1, are developed to meet the needs of users and producers.

7. Accessing and releasing statistics

o Users will be able to access a full list of available statistics produced by government.

o Users will be able to use a variety of standard methods to access Tier 1 statistics.

o Release of Tier 1 statistics will be by the Chief Executive of the producing agency according to a calendar of release dates published at least six months in advance.

8. A single point of access to Tier 1 unit record survey and administrative data. A new business unit will be set up in Statistics New Zealand called the Official Statistics Research and Data Archive Centre and will provide a single access point for Tier 1 and a single repository for unit record data for Tier 1 surveys, for use by government, university and other researchers.

9. Clear terms for contract survey work undertaken by Statistics New Zealand for government agencies. These terms and conditions must be widely available and understood by potential contracting parties.

10. Notification process for all surveys, in order to produce a comprehensive register of all official surveys and reduce duplication of work by departments and respondents.

11. A burden management process will be put in place for all surveys with a sample size over 2,500 to encourage collaboration across agencies. The final decision will be made by the Chief Executive of the producing agency.

Appendix C: Current NSS Webpage

3 NSS Webpage on Stats SA Web Site

|National Statistics System (NSS) |

Aim

The aim of the National Statistics System within Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is to be the dynamic link between Stats SA as a producer and supplier of statistical data, and users of data in the public, private and civil society sectors.

Goals

The goals of the National Statistics System within Statistics South Africa are:

• to communicate effectively the role and work of the NSS among other Stats SA components and all staff

• to keep staff appraised on NSS work-in-progress so that all members of Stats SA can give feedback and inform the NSS at every step of the way

• to reinforce the integration of NSS programme and activity links with other components as the process of building and establishing the NSS unfolds

Objectives

In order to give effect to the goal, the NSS intends to:

• set up and maintain a Web site on the Stats SA intranet, which site will feature the following information:

• Background on the NSS. This item will reinforce orientation that has been given before. It will, also be a ready reference on the rationale for the NSS

Other benefits of the NSS for Stats SA and for the development work in South Africa are:

• the continuous promotion of statistical literacy in the country

• facilitation of the formation of a partnership of producers, suppliers and users of statistical data

• promotion of best practices on the NSS from elsewhere in the world, particularly from other African countries

Appendix D – Potential Official Statistics[13]

| |

The National Statistics System- an overview (Official statistics marked with a (x )and potential official statistics with a ( y))

| |Stats SA |Dep of |

| | |Home Affairs |

|Pali Lehohla |Statistician-General |Statistics South Africa |

|Dr. Ros Hirschowitz |Deputy, Director General | |

|Dr. Liz Gavin |Deputy, Director General | |

|Prof. Akiiki Kahimbaara |Executive Manager, |National Statistics System Division, |

| | |Statistics South Africa |

|Mandisi Titi |Manager | |

|Anisha Maharaj |Manager | |

|Nigel Bragg |Professional | |

|Sieraag de Klerk |Professional | |

|Neo Mofokeng |Professional | |

|Millicent Hlongwane |Professional | |

|Fanie Mohlala |Professional | |

|Motimedi Sekobela |Professional | |

|Paseka Dhlamini |Executive Manager, HRM |Statistics South Africa |

|Tony McGregor |Deputy Director, Training | |

|Margaret Africa |Standards and Classifications | |

|Sydney Molefe |Executive Manager, ICT | |

|Mbulaheni Nthangani |Executive Manager, Human Capacity Building | |

|Miriam Babita |Executive Manager, Poverty Statistics | |

|Bomela Nolunkcwe |Manager, Health and Vital Statistics | |

|Dr. Motlatjie Anne Letsebe |Deputy Director-General and Head of the Cabinet |The Presidency |

| |Office | |

|Kefiloe Masiteng |Chief Director: Governance and Administrative |PCAS |

| |Sector | |

|Yasmin Dada-Jones |Chief Director, Social Sector |PCAS |

|Zinhle Nkosi |Deputy Director: Programme Evaluations |Office of the Public Service Commission |

|Marie Fourie |Management Consultant |Office of the Public Service Commission |

|Craig Schwabe |Director GIS Centre |HSRC/ consultant to PSC |

|Dr. Lorraine Glanz |Director Court Information |Department: Justice and Constitutional |

| | |Development |

|Anthony Cooper | |CSIR |

|Hilary Southall |Chair, Statistics Council of South Africa |Statistics Council |

|Eugene Kritzinger |DHA Civic Sevices |Home Affairs |

|Wim de Jonge |Acting Deputy Director: Population Register | |

|Representative for Andre Goosen |DHA, Immigration | |

|Lucky Kekana |DHA (KIM Project) | |

|Horro Tonsing |DHA (SESS) | |

|Shauan Emslie |Chief Director |Premier’s Office – Kwa |

| | |Zulu Natal |

|Prof. Shabala | | |

|Neil Hartley |Consultant, Eyethu Infotech | |

|Drusila Mukasa |Provincial Head -KWZ |KWZ Provincial Statistics Office |

|Helen Smith |NSS Division – KWZ | |

|Claude Baxter | |Department of Education |

|Anton Casteleign |Senior Economist |South African Reserve Bank |

| | | |

-----------------------

[1] NSS National Statistical System – statistics produced by all organs of state for use beyond the purposes of that particular body.

NSSD – Division of Statistics South Africa responsible for facilitating development of the NSS

[2] See Figure 1, Section 2

[3] [4] Towards a 10 Year Review: Synthesis Report on Implementation of Government Programmes; PCAS, The Presidency October 2003

[5] 7 March 2005

[6]

[7] Statistics Act, 1999 Section 14 (6) The Statistician-General may advise any organ of state regarding the application of appropriate quality criteria and standards, classifications and procedures for statistics—

(a) to improve the quality of statistics;

(b) to enhance the comparability of statistics;

(c) to minimise unnecessary overlapping or duplication with the collection or publication of statistics in that organ of state or by other organs of state.

[8] The Classifications and Related Standards (CARS) system will provide a central repository for storage, accessing, maintaining, updating and editing classifications, definitions, concordances and code files used in the collection and dissemination of statistics by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). CARS will facilitate access to standard, independent and non-standard classifications, and promote better version control of classifications across the Department.

[9]

[10]

[11] In 1999, the Cabinet established six Committees which clustered the work of the Cabinet and became the locus of policy debates prior to the submission of memoranda to the Cabinet. At the level of directors-general, similar Clusters were established. The focus of the G&A Cluster is mainly, though not exclusively, on supporting the efficient and effective functioning of government, and is therefore primarily concerned with matters internal to government operations.

[12] PCAS advises the President on all aspects of policy-coordination, implementation and monitoring and assists on special cross-cutting projects and programmes…. Its core function is to facilitate an integrated approach to all policy development and implementation.

[13]

[14] Statistical and policy Analysis Audit of National Policy Structures and National Departments in South Africa; Gösta Guteland and Mary Strode; July 2004

-----------------------

69405

Table 1: Protocols Released by the UK Office of National Statistics

| |

|[pic] |[|[pic] |[|[pic] |

| |p| |p| |

| |i| |i| |

| |c| |c| |

| |]| |]| |

| | |Release Practices | | |

| | |Consultation Arrangements between the National Statistician and UK Government | | |

| | |Ministers | | |

| | |Professional Competence | | |

| | |Customer Service and User Consultation Data Presentation, Dissemination and | | |

| | |Pricing | | |

| | |Statistical Integration | | |

| | |Data Management, Documentation and Preservation | | |

| | |Managing Respondent Load | | |

| | |Quality Management | | |

| | |Revisions | | |

| | |Data Access and Confidentiality | | |

| | |Data Matching | | |

| | |This page last revised: Friday, 19 November 2004 | | |

Table 2: Summary of Principles – Statistical Integration in the UK

Code of Practice – Statement of Principles

• Statistical systems will be designed in ways that maximise the potential to add value through data integration.

• Common statistical frames, definitions, and classifications will be promoted and used in all statistical surveys and sources.

• The value of administrative data in producing National Statistics will be recognised, and statistical purposes should be promoted in the design of administrative systems.

Additional principles embodied in this Protocol

• All producers of National Statistics will, wherever practicable, adopt common geographic referencing and coding standards.

• All those involved in the production of National Statistics will promote the adoption of international standards and guidance.

• Producers of National Statistics will indicate where their outputs do not follow or use common frameworks or guidance and explain why.

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