Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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92. To ask the Taoiseach the professional qualifications required of those seeking or occupying statistical positions on the management board of the Central Statistics Office, CSO. [20380/19]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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93. To ask the Taoiseach the professional statistical qualifications required of statistical managers at Central Statistics Office, CSO, board level; and if he is satisfied that these requirements compare favourably nationally to other organisations such as the ESRI. [20381/19]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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94. To ask the Taoiseach the professional qualifications required of those seeking or occupying senior statistical positions at the Central Statistics Office, CSO. [20382/19]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 to 94, inclusive, together.

The grades of Statistician, Senior Statistician, Director, Assistant Director General and Director General fall within the definition of statistical managers within the CSO. Details of the requirements for each post are available below.

Statistician

The Central Statistics Office places a minimum academic requirement commensurate with the demands of the job on new entrants to the Statistician grade, specifically asking for a minimum 2.1 (honours) grade primary degree in a statistical or numerate subject. Appointment to the role of Statistician is by competitive interview and applicants must meet demanding statistical competency requirements. In addition, applicants for the statistician role must demonstrate appropriate ability in respect of a range of further competencies modelled on the civil service competency model for equivalent grades.

Senior Statistician

Senior Statisticians are the Principal Officer-level senior professional officer in charge of a statistical division, either in the CSO or in an external Department, Office or Agency. Appointment to Senior Statistician is by competitive interview and applicants must meet demanding statistical qualifications requirements, while also demonstrating the required standard in the PO-level competencies as set out under the Civil Service competency model.

The last Senior Statistician competition held in 2018 identified an essential educational requirement of:

Minimum Level 8 degree (2H1 or higher) on the National Framework of Qualifications or an equivalent qualification, in a discipline with a significant numerate component such as Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, Geographical Information Systems, Data Science/Data Analytics etc.

Empirically, the following illustrates the academic qualifications of current Statisticians and Senior Statisticians serving in the CSO:

Management Board

The Management Board comprises Director, Assistant Director General and Director General Grades.

Director

The most recent appointment to the position of Director in the CSO was conducted by the Public Appointments Service. Candidates were assessed in relation to the competencies of leadership, judgement, managing relationships and personal drive. The personal requirements included having a good knowledge and understanding of statistical methodology as it applies to the production of statistics, and having experience and qualifications, ideally a third level/professional qualification in Statistics, Mathematics or Economics.

Director General/Assistant Director General

Competitions for appointment to the positions of Director General and Assistant Director General are conducted by the Public Appointments Service, on behalf of the Top-Level Appointments Committee. In addition to the generic competencies developed by TLAC for posts at ADG and DG level and the key skills, knowledge and expertise required at this level, candidates for statistical Management Board roles are further required to demonstrate a good working knowledge and understanding of the Official Statistical System in Ireland and at European level, and statistical methodology as it applies to the production of Official and European statistics.

Empirically, the following illustrates the academic qualifications of Management Board members:

The CSO operates a continuous learning and development policy, with a dedicated Statistical Training Framework which provides training interventions to meet 13 statistical skills headings based on the internationally recognised Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) across the Irish Statistical System. In addition, the CSO supports staff to attend European Statistical Training Programme (ESTP) courses, IMF, ECB and other relevant international training courses in Official Statistics to continually update their skills.

The CSO’s skills and competency model for statistical managers is similar to that applied by other comparable organisations, that is, other National Statistical Institutions in the EU and other comparator countries.

Newly appointed staff at all grades are subject to a one-year probationary period, in the course of which their technical aptitude for the role as well as their more general suitability for permanent appointment are assessed.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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95. To ask the Taoiseach the way in which members of the audit committee of the Central Statistics Office, CSO, are chosen for the role; and if expertise in statistics is a prerequisite for membership. [20383/19]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Audit committees are an integral part of the control environment across central government. The function of audit committees is to provide independent advice to Accounting Officers regarding the adequacy and effectiveness of the internal control systems and procedures of their organisations.

As stipulated in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Audit Committee Guidelines (September 2014), “the Accounting Officer should ensure that the Audit Committee has the capacity to understand the financial, cultural, strategic and political environment in which the organisation operates. The Audit Committee should also be satisfied that at least one of its members has recent and relevant financial experience. Other suggested skills include ICT expertise, and corporate and ICT governance experience.”

The membership of the CSO’s Audit Committee has been appointed by the Director General in compliance with these guidelines, to include external and internal membership covering the range of skills and experience, including statistical, which are needed.

The conditions of membership for the CSO Audit Committee are set out in the Audit Committee Charter and these include:

- The Audit Committee shall comprise of a Chairperson and not less than three and not more than five other members appointed by the Director General.

- At least two members of the Audit Committee shall be external members. One of these members will have appropriate financial expertise.

- The internal members should be from senior management grades of staff (Senior Statistician or Principal Officer level) and representative of different functions within the Office.

At present there are six members of the Audit Committee, three external (including the Chair) and three internal members comprising two Senior Statisticians, who provide the relevant statistical experience, and one Principal Officer.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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96. To ask the Taoiseach when the term of the director general of the Central Statistics Office will come to an end; and his plans in respect of appointing a new director general. [20649/19]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Director General of the Central Statistics Office is appointed in accordance with the Statistics Act 1993 and the EU Regulation on European Statistics. The Government agreed to extend the Director General’s term of appointment on 26 February 2019 in accordance with section 12 (4) of the Statistics Act 1993, which provides that the Director General shall hold office on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Taoiseach after consultation with the Minister for Finance. This appointment will expire 30 May 2024. The appointment will then be considered in the context of the relevant provisions of the Statistics Act 1993 and the EU Regulation on European Statistics.