Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

This is my first visit to Seanad Éireann and I hope we will have an enlightened debate on the Central Statistics Office. I am grateful for the opportunity to address the House on the important role official statistics continue to play in developing public policy in Ireland and planning for the future.

As Minister of State with responsibility for the Central Statistics Office, CSO, I am keen to record the Government's appreciation of the important public service role of the office. The CSO serves Ireland well and publishes a vast range of statistics for the economy and society and on important topics. This information is used by Departments, public bodies, EU institutions, the IMF, the OECD and other international bodies. The international attention given to Ireland's statistics has increased dramatically in the past three years. Statistics are also widely used by businesses, universities, research institutes and the general public. The public is increasingly aware of statistics and indicators concerning the economic and social issues that affect our daily lives. This reflects the times in which we live.

In times of such major change it is opportune to assess the direction official statistics will take and, specifically, how official statistics can make a greater contribution to informing general public policy. The CSO is best known for conducting the census of population and I have been impressed by the professionalism of this year's census which was undertaken in April. The preliminary results, published in June, show that there are 4.58 million people in Ireland. Surprisingly, this is almost 100,000 more than had been forecast. The CSO is processing the detailed census returns and will release the detailed results during 2012, with the first report set to be published in March.

There are two important features of the work of the CSO that I am keen to emphasise: its independence and its confidentiality. Both principles are enshrined in law in the Statistics Act 1993. The Director General of the office is fully independent in regard to professional standards and the conduct, content and timing of the information published by the CSO. This independence is essential to ensure the public can have complete confidence that the statistics are impartial and it allows debate to focus on the implications for society of the numbers published. The second principle is confidentiality: all information collected by the CSO from households, individuals and businesses is treated as strictly confidential and only used for statistical purposes. These principles form part of the CSO's adherence to the highest international standards, as set out in the UN fundamental principles of official statistics and the European statistics code of practice. Ireland's membership of the European Union is one of the most important factors in determining statistical requirements. Virtually all of the statistics produced by the CSO are required by EU regulations. The CSO's involvement in the European statistical system enables us to work to common standards and produce information which is internationally comparable.

Statistical offices throughout Europe and further afield face similar challenges, including how to meet current and growing demands for information, how to become more efficient and work within budget restrictions, and how to reduce the burden on data providers. It may appear difficult to reconcile these three objectives which amount to producing more with less. The first objective is to meet current and growing demands for information. The CSO already publishes more than 300 statistical releases and publications every year. These include our most important economic indicators such as the quarterly employment and unemployment figures, the quarterly national accounts, and the monthly consumer price index and retail sales index. These figures receive close attention at all times but more so in the present climate.

One of the office's most recently introduced series, the monthly residential property price index, has generated a good deal of interest. The CSO's publications also include larger-scale projects such as the census, the household budget survey and the census of agriculture. It is collecting information for the OECD programme for assessment of adult competencies. This will be an important data source on adult literacy and numeracy.

The CSO produces a vast range of information, all of it highly relevant to current policy questions. However, it will face growing demands in the coming years.

At international level, there is an active discussion of the need to augment traditional economic indicators with supplementary information on quality of life, sustainability and the environment. The Stiglitz report on the measurement of economic performance and social progress, commissioned in 2008 by President Sarkozy of France, made recommendations that have been widely accepted by policymakers and will, in time, lead to demands for new surveys and statistics. The National Statistics Board has also identified data gaps in important policy areas, including energy and the environment, transport and travel, health, education, short-term economic indicators, and housing and construction.

The second major challenge facing statistical offices is to work within more limited budgets. I am pleased to note the Central Statistics Office has been very active in implementing structural changes to make the collection, processing and dissemination of statistics more efficient. It has fully met all savings commitments to date and I am confident it will continue to do so.

The third challenge is to reduce the burden on respondents. I am glad to report that the CSO is taking a comprehensive approach to this issue, particularly for business surveys, by redesigning questionnaires, reducing sample sizes and integrating data from existing sources, where possible. The burden of business surveys has fallen by 18% between 2008 and 2010. This is a major step by the Central Statistics Office towards meeting the 25% reduction target by 2012, which was set out in the European Commission action programme for reducing administrative burden. In this regard, I should add that statistics constitute only a small part of the total administrative burden facing businesses. Further reductions in burden are under way this year in the annual services inquiry and the June and December agricultural surveys. In both cases, the CSO is making greater use of existing administrative data to compile the necessary information.

Administrative records are also a valuable resource for new statistical analysis. The CSO release "Foreign Nationals' PPSN Allocations, Employment and Social Welfare Activity" is compiled from administrative data, as is the "Job Churn" analysis. This illustrates the dynamics of the changing level of employment in each sector. Both releases are highly topical and have direct relevance to policy. They demonstrate the statistical potential of administrative data. The National Statistics Board has made the realisation of this potential its primary strategic objective over the past decade. This has led to many improvements and will continue to be a priority so that the Central Statistics Office can meet new information needs as efficiently as possible. This will require not only increased analysis of the available files but a fundamental rethink of how we organise and structure administrative processes and information.

There is a clear synergy between the better use of data and the Government's reform programme for the public sector. The reform programme emphasises accountability and the measurement of performance. Statistics provide sound evidence for this to inform decision making and monitor policy outcomes. A central part of reform is the need to move towards a more joined up Government administration, eliminating policy and operational silos by making policy and practice more focused and integrated across Departments and agencies.

The Central Statistics Office and broader statistical system have a significant part to play in this reform. I recently met officials of the National Statistics Board to discuss the board's priorities for statistics and I am working with my colleagues in government to advance a co-ordinated approach to official statistics. The rationale is clear - joined up government needs joined up data. For the CSO, this involves three major technical issues which have a bearing on the capacity to use administrative data to produce statistics, namely, the manner in which personal data is organised to enable linkage and analysis of information for statistical purposes; the manner in which business data is organised for statistical use; and geographical classifications, including, in particular, the need to introduce a standard post code system. These are key issues in enabling the CSO to compile statistics more efficiently, while respecting individual confidentiality. They are also key issues for public administration in general which, if addressed centrally, can contribute to more efficient and customer focused public services.

Other countries make extensive use of registers in their administration and statistical systems. Ireland does not have a tradition of official registers, for example, registers of persons, businesses or buildings. Addressing these gaps in what one could describe as the "national data infrastructure" would be of long-term benefit to the country.

I have focused until now on the work of the CSO. This is fitting as the office has the primary role in producing official statistics in Ireland. However, the National Statistics Board has recognised that, for the long-term objectives for official statistics to be met in full, it will be necessary for other public bodies, notably larger Departments, to engage actively and effectively in statistical production. In response to this, all Departments are now required to prepare data strategies and a number of Departments and offices have established statistical units staffed by professional statisticians on secondment from the Central Statistics Office. In short, an embryonic Irish statistical system has emerged which can play an increasingly important role in supporting the production and use of high quality official statistics throughout the system.

I stress the critical importance of having good quality statistics to inform policy making and planning. There is a greater than ever focus on statistical information and we are fortunate in having a highly professional and independent Central Statistics Office to meet Ireland's statistical needs. The demand for statistics continues to increase, while resources are constrained. Accordingly, we must find better ways to meet demand. In this regard, the effective use of administrative records for statistical purposes is the highest priority. The Government is fully committed to supporting the Central Statistics Office and wider statistical system in its endeavours, which benefit all of us.