New sources – administrative registers Genovefa RUŽIĆ

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Content History / active role of the Statistical Office Benefits and weakness of administrative sources Intensified use of statistical methods Legal basis, agreements Close co-operation with the owners of the administrative sources Adaptation of existing statistical process Different and additional knowledge is needed Future challenges

Zlatibor, 7-8 July History / active role of the Statistical Office In the 1980s established 3 basic registers: –Business Register, –Central Population Register, –Register of Spatial Units. In the 1990s turned them over to the relevant government authorities.  Nowadays encourages to establish new administrative registers: –Register of Secondary Education, –Centralised Register of Tertiary Education.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July History / active role of the Statistical Office Encouraged the use of other administrative sources: –Comparisons between the data from administrative sources and Household Budget Survey;  Quality of administrative data were promising. Increased use in: –Business statistics, –Agricultural census, –Social statistics – EU-SILC, Register-based Census,..  Approximately 50 different administrative sources are used for statistical purposes.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Use for the Economic statistics Short ‑ term business statistics: –VAT declarations for the estimation of turnover from substantial decrease of the response burden, only 5% report also with questionnaire; Structural business statistics: –almost entirely rely on annual accounting statements, only the investment survey is conducted; National accounts: –annual accounting statements, income tax declarations and VAT declarations are used to estimate approximately 80% of the total value added; Branch statistical surveys: –employment figures are obtained from the Statistical Register of Employment - the special employment survey was eliminated, deletion of questions on the number of employees in all branch statistical surveys.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Use for the Social statistics EU-SILC: –10 administrative sources: Income tax, Social Assistance, Family Allowances, Pensions,…;  Interview lasts only 30 minutes. Register-based census 2011: –4 core sources: Central Population Register, Household Register (Ministry of the Interior); Real Estate Register (Surveying and Mapping Authority); Statistical Register of Employment; –6 statistical surveys; –6 other administrative sources;  14 mio EUR savings in state budget, elimination of response burden.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Benefits and weakness of administrative sources Benefits: –Reduction of the response burden; –Quality – the statistical process could be unified and controlled by the same rules in all stages and the subjective influence on data is prevented; –Savings – for the field collections. Weaknesses: –Definitions of variables are not always in line with the statistical definitions – more methodological work is needed; –Data from different sources are not available at the same time – complex integration.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Intensified use of statistical methods Administrative sources usually use different concepts and definitions: –Several methodological solutions have to be prepared to put them in line with the statistical definitions – some examples;  Shifting the work load in the preparatory phase;  Some statistical surveys are needed anyway, limited in number and content. Administrative data sources thus cannot always fully replace classical statistical surveys.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Legal basis National Statistics Act: –Administrative register must make use of valid standards (e.g. classifications which are national standard, unique identifications of persons and businesses); –The right to obtain individual data from all existing records and the permission to link them. Regulation on European Statistics 223/2009 Agreements with the owners of administrative sources are recommended.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Agreements Agreements in order to: –Assure the regular transmission of data, irrespective of the changes in the government (minister, responsible person); –Clarify what, when, who transmit the data – protocol; –Raise the awareness of the owners to consult the statistical office before any potential changes in the administrative source.  The role of Director-General – to lead the most delicate negotiations with the most challenging institutions (tax, agriculture,…).

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Close co-operation With the owners of the administrative sources in order to: –Highlight the importance of the reuse of data for the statistical purposes; –Make clear that the transmission of individual data cold be done only in one direction; –Get their interest to improve the quality of data – some examples (dwelling number, relationship to the head of household,…); Within the government in order to: –Encourage the establishment of the new administrative registers – i.e. Real Estate Register, Household Register;  Through e-government and statistical advisory committees.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Adaptation of existing statistical process Centralized one point for the acceptance of administrative sources; Creation of the list of administrative registers with correspondent persons responsible for the content, technical issues; Issues of confidentiality – controlled access to individual data, personal identification number transformed into statistical number; Sources should be checked and edited before any integration – administrative sources are not perfect; Linkage of data at the micro level, priority of sources, imputations, sometimes manual editing.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Different and additional knowledge is needed Project team for the most complex integration, i.e. Register-based Census, Agricultural Census; Small team of persons (approximately 10) with different knowledge; Dedicated project leader; High level support to the team; Regular reporting (monthly); Methodological meetings (mixed levels, knowledge) to approve some methodological issues (to harmonise approaches).

Zlatibor, 7-8 July Future challenges Undesirable changes or abolishment of administrative sources due to the reduction of administrative burden by different institutions;  More coordination and co ‑ operation with different institutions are needed: –Possible solution: an appropriate legal framework that establishes the control rights of the NSI (e.g. the need to consult the NSI before changing any of the features of the administrative data; –SORS developed mechanisms for coordination through: Statistical Advisory Committees; E-government.

Zlatibor, 7-8 July To sum up High-level political support; Legal basis, plus agreements with the owners; Active role of the statistical office and its DG in encouraging the establishment of new registers, their maintenance (improving quality) and in preventing of undesirable changes or even their abolishment; Administrative sources might give even better data, reduce respondent burden and decrease costs (for field collections), however, more methodological work is needed; the work load is shifted in the preparatory phase, burden is shifted to the NSI, additional knowledge is needed, motivated staff with high level support; Adaptation of existing statistical process.