International Collaboration to Modernise Official Statistics Steven Vale UNECE steven.vale@unece.org

Introducing UNECE Statistics

Introducing UNECE Statistics

Introducing UNECE Statistics

UNECE Statistics: Priorities Population censuses, migration, Millennium Development Goals Globalisation, National Accounts, employment, business registers Sustainable development, environmental accounts, climate change Modernisation

Introducing the HLG High-level Group for the Modernisation of Statistical Production and Services Created by the Conference of European Statisticians in 2010 Vision and strategy endorsed by CES in 2011/2012

Who are the HLG members? Pádraig Dalton (Ireland) - Chairman Trevor Sutton (Australia) Wayne Smith (Canada) Emanuele Baldacci (Italy) Bert Kroese (Netherlands) Park, Hyungsoo (Republic of Korea) Genovefa Ružić (Slovenia) Walter Radermacher (Eurostat) Martine Durand (OECD) Lidia Bratanova (UNECE) 

What does the HLG do? Oversees activities that support modernisation of statistical organisations Stimulates development of global standards and international collaboration activities “Within the official statistics community ... take a leadership and coordination role” Quotes from the Terms of Reference of the HLG

Why is the HLG needed? Before the HLG Now Many expert groups Clear vision Little coordination Agreed priorities No overall strategy Strategic leadership Limited impact Real progress

In the last 2 years more information was created than in the whole of the rest of human history!

The Challenges Riding the big data wave Increasing cost & difficulty of acquiring data New competitors & changing expectations ABS, like other National Statistical Institutions, faces shared constraints and challenges. External Challenges rapidly changing external environment More sophisticated users Demand for timeliness and responsiveness increasing demand for more accessible and ‘joined up’ data to solve complex policy questions Constraints Reduced funding and volatility in funding Our costs are increasing significantly – unable to contact many households, response rates dropping, difficult to recruit and retain interviewers skills shortages – competing for statistical and ICT skills across government complex work programs siloed processes and aging infrastructure Competition for skilled resources Rapid changes in the environment Reducing budget

These challenges are too big for statistical organisations to tackle on their own We need to work together

A strategy for modernisation Transform vision to reality New sources and products Streamlined processes Managing organisational change to support modernisation and collaboration

A strategy for modernisation Transform vision to reality New sources and products Streamlined processes Managing organisational change to support modernisation and collaboration Conference of European Statisticians, June 2012 Endorsed

Using common standards, statistics can be produced more efficiently No domain is special! Do new methods and tools support this vision, or do they reinforce a stove-pipe mentality?

Standards-based Modernisaton 135 28% 43% 34,600

What will this mean for resources? What does this mean for our Resources? A change in the effort required for some of the GSBPM activities Less effort on collect and process activities More time and effort focussed on higher value analytical work

What has the HLG achieved? 2012 2013 Generic Statistical Information Model 2013 Common Statistical Production Architecture Frameworks and Standards for Statistical Modernisation 2014 Implementation of the Common Statistical Production Architecture Big Data in Official Statistics These projects are chosen based on feedback from the CES and an annual workshop with representatives of around 25 international expert groups. I will give a short summary of what as achieved in 2013, and what is currently in progress.

How to work together for minimum cost and maximum benefit? The standards we need for modernisation are developed in a series of global projects overseen by the HLG How to work together for minimum cost and maximum benefit?

Governance

HLG Activities – Engagement Map

Get involved! More Information Anyone is welcome to contribute! HLG Wiki: www1.unece.org/stat/platform/display/hlgbas LinkedIn group: “Business architecture in statistics”