Feedback on Annual Report of Stats SA Pali Lehohla 15 March 2006 Information can change lives Presentation to the Portfolio Committee of Finance

Preferred supplier of quality statistics Contents 1.Statistical products - Quality of statistics - Labour market statistics - Measurement of the economy - Community Survey - Support to Municipalities 2.Governance - Management - Spending - Capacity building

Preferred supplier of quality statistics Purpose Purpose of the meeting – To provide feedback to the Portfolio Committee on issues raised during the tabling of Stats SA’s annual report in 2005 To outline continuing actions to be undertaken by Stats SA

Statistical Products Information can change lives

Preferred supplier of quality statistics Quality of statistics Portfolio Committee – Reporting on quality of statistics Stats SA’s response – Dimensions of quality Relevance Accuracy Timeliness Accessibility Interpretability Methodological soundness Integrity Coherence Continuing Actions: Stats SA is standardising reporting on these dimensions in statistical releases

Preferred supplier of quality statistics Labour market statistics Portfolio Committee – Presentation and definition of unemployment Stats SA’s response – Labour force survey (LFS) is the vehicle to provide current labour market indicators Stats SA provides the official unemployment rate We will continue to provide information on other labour market data Continuing Actions: Stats SA is re-engineering the LFS in terms of measurement and frequency of reporting

Preferred supplier of quality statistics Measuring the economy Portfolio Committee – Reporting on the informal sector in the GDP Stats SA’s response – Coverage of the economy is improving Business register based on tax information is improving Measurement of the informal sector continues to be a challenge – currently addressed through a household based survey (Survey of Employers and Self Employed) Current contribution of the informal sector is estimated at 4% Continuing Actions: Enhancing monthly and quarterly economic surveys

Preferred supplier of quality statistics Community Survey Portfolio Committee – Uncertainties surrounding the Community Survey Stats SA’s response – Agreement with Council in September 2005 Pilot survey conducted in February 2006 Processing pilot data – learnings Main survey will be conducted in February 2007 Results will be released in November 2007 Continuing Actions: Building capacity towards Census 2011

Preferred supplier of quality statistics Support to Municipalities Portfolio Committee – Support to rural municipalities in the use of statistics Stats SA’s response – Mandate of Stats SA is to collect, analyse and disseminate statistics All products placed on the website and printed reports are distributed free of charge Provincial offices provide support to the provinces and local government Continuing Actions: Where resources allow, Stats SA will provide statistical support to Municipalities

Governance Information can change lives

-11- Preferred supplier of quality statistics Management Portfolio Committee – Management of the department Stats SA’s response – Management strengthened Minister chaired interviewing panel – recommendations to Cabinet DDGs and CFO appointed Continuing Actions: Building a coherent senior management team

-12- Preferred supplier of quality statistics Spending Portfolio Committee – Financial management of the department Stats SA’s response – Previous underspending at 30% Management initiated several processes to bring underspending under control Expectation is that under expenditure will improve to 7% Community Survey still experiencing underspending problem – delay in decision Continuing Actions: Improving integrative planning and budgeting

-13- Preferred supplier of quality statistics Capacity Building Portfolio Committee – Lack of skills Stats SA’s response – Head hunted 10 highly qualified professionals Internship programme – retained 13 of 15 interns – appointed permanently Second cohort of 17 interns undergoing training Continuing Actions: Internship programme yielding approximately 135 qualified professionals by 2009

-14- Preferred supplier of quality statistics Capacity Building Portfolio Committee – Lack of skills Stats SA’s response – Towards a numerate society: - Partnerships with Universities - Statistical Training Institute - Teacher training and International Committee on the Teaching of Statistics (ICOTS) - Harmonising training initiatives within SADC - Building capacity towards 2010 Census round in Africa Continuing Actions: Internship programme yielding approximately 135 qualified professionals by 2009

-15- Preferred supplier of quality statistics Concluding remarks Purpose of the meeting Constructive feedback from Committee members Presented work programme to Statistics Council Will be presenting the work programme to Minister later today Will be presenting the strategic plan to Parliament in May 2006

Information can change lives Thank you