of Official Statistics Conference of European Statisticians of Official Statistics

Value of Official Statistics (VoS) Background Conditions leading to international work on VoS Tight budget constraints imposed on many statistical offices Demand for statistics growing globally We work in an increasingly competitive information industry Stakeholders sometimes FAIL to see the value of official statistics Need to define and measure VoS: Define what is the business of official statistics in the midst of Data Revolution Convey the reasons why investment in official statistics should be made Pool good practices of statistical offices to support mutual learning Identify and develop better ways to explain the value of official statistics 1. Regardless the central role of OS in informing decision makers and society at large, users sometimes Fail to SEE the Value of Official Statistics Budget constrains are imposed on many NSOs Despite the Growing demand for Statistics Challenges arising from the increasingly competitive information industry Under these conditions UNECE work to Define and measure the value of OS (ii) And its Impact on decision making has become ever more important 1.Define what is the business of OS 2. Convey the reasons why investment in OS should be made 3. Collect good practices from NSOs 4. Develop better ways to explain the value of OS: (i) Is for measuring the VOS; (ii) How to enhance the VOS – by strengthening the independence and professionalism

Task Force on Value of Official Statistics Under the Conference of European Statisticians Established in May 2015 Objective: Define what is meant by VoS Develop ways to measure the VoS Develop better understanding and communication of this value Recommend actions for promoting and increasing the value Task Force members: United Kingdom (chair), Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland and Turkey Eurostat, OECD, Paris21, World Bank and UNECE Background: The work started with a review of current practices in promoting the value of official statistics and measuring it in statistical offices and a review of how other industries are creating, measuring and communicating the value of their output. The lessons learned from other industries turned out very useful for drafting recommendations for statistical offices. Australia, Switzerland and the World Bank joined the Task Force this autumn!

Interim Recommendations At the Conference of European Statisticians in April 2016 Exploit the comparative advantage of official statistics (the cornerstone) Put customers truly at the center Design statistics for everyday life Innovate to remain valuable Go further with strategic partners Build the official statistics brand and gain visibility Measure outcomes to achieve greater impact Share and learn using a plug-and play platform See the Interim Recommendations for more details: (http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/documents/ece/ces/2016/mtg/CES_11_- ENG_G1602756.pdf)

CES consultation in March-April 2016 Interim Recommendations on Value of Official Statistics Heads of statistical offices: Strongly supported the interim recommendations Noted that the recommendations are balanced and comprehensive with useful examples and based on strengths of official statistics Emphasized that the work provides direction for national development Substantive comments from 30 countries and 3 international organizations All countries supported sharing of good practices: Task Force carried out a survey of countries jointly with HLG Modernisation Committee on Statistical Products and Sources Now over 200 good practice cases are being uploaded on a wiki – to be published soon! We got 49 replies to the survey and it was used as a source of over 500 good practice cases and currently about 200 are being uploaded on the wiki. These cases are structured according to the 8 Task Force recommendations to provide ideas directly for implementing the recommendations.

Measurement framework A dashboard of indicators & methodologies to monetize the value Objective, observable indicators – extracting data Using existing data: data downloads, citations, etc. Subjective indicators – user surveying Collecting data: customer feedback, user surveys, etc. Monetizing the value of statistics Cost or investment approach Market (equivalent) pricing Stated preference methods Revealed preference methods Impact assessment - OECD leads the task on developing a measurement framework. This consists of : (a) Objective, observable indicators (such as website visits, data downloads, number of citations of statistics etc.) (b) Subjective indicators on perceptions of users of statistics (user survey) (c) A review of methodologies to monetize the value of official statistics - The Task Force is analyzing 5 different approaches to monetize the value of official statistics: Cost or investment approach = Using the production costs or investments needed for statistical production as a basis for monetizing their value Market (equivalent) pricing = Valuing at the price that would apply if official statistics would be traded in a competitive setting Stated preference methods = Asking people what economic value they would attach to official statistics Revealed preference methods = Using information from related markets to impute a value to official statistics as non-market goods Impact assessment = Assessing the impacts of using official statistics to society and estimating their value

Current work Finalize the measurement framework – Paper on monetization for CESS 2016 Develop convincing points on VoS – to be used by statisticians to promote the value of statistics Develop a generic user survey – to measure users views on the VoS – Ireland and Mexico will pilot test Develop a wiki on best practices – lessons learned and material on increasing, communicating and measuring the VoS Keep statisticians informed at events – Dissemination and Communication Workshop, 5-7 October, Session on Defending VoS – CESS 2016 Session on Value of Official Statistics, 20 October Recommendations on Value of Official Statistics and the measurement framework to be finalized by June 2017 UNECE Dissemination and Communication Workshop will include presentations by the Task Force (Ireland: Eoin McCuirc), Argentina (Silvina Viazzi, Statistics Dissemination of an Institution in Crisis) and United Kingdom (Helen Moore on Using Behavioral Science to improve ONS’s communication) CESS 2016 session organized by the Task Force members and presentations by Joe Grice (UK), Anu Peltola (UNECE), Peter Van de Ven (OECD) and Thilo Klein (Paris 21)

Task Force on Statistical Legislation Established in April 2016 Reinforce legal frameworks so as to: Guarantee the independence, integrity and accountability of statistical systems Ensure high quality of official statistics Safeguard data security and confidentiality Strong and up-to-date statistical law to: Support modernization of statistical systems Remove barriers to releasing the full value of statistics Guidance on common elements of statistical legislation, planned to be finalized by early 2018 This Task Force is mentioned here as it has many links to improving statistical offices’ work to increase the value of official statistics. The legal framework should be such that support modern ways of working and does not impose unnecessary barriers to releasing the full value of official statistics.