Annexes to COM(2011)928 - European statistical programme 2013-2017

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dossier COM(2011)928 - European statistical programme 2013-2017.
document COM(2011)928 EN
date January 15, 2013
ANNEX

Statistical infrastructure and objectives of the European statistical programme 2013 to 2017

Introduction

The implementation of Union policies requires high-quality, comparable and reliable statistical information about the economic, social and environmental situation in the Union and its components at national and regional level. European statistics are also indispensable for Europe, allowing the general public and European citizens to understand as well as to take part in the democratic process and debate about the present and future of the Union.

The European statistical programme provides the legislative framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics over the period 2013 to 2017.

European statistics are developed, produced and disseminated under that legislative framework through close and coordinated cooperation within the European Statistical System (ESS).

Statistics developed, produced and disseminated under the European statistical programme 2013 to 2017 (‘the programme’) contribute to the implementation of the Union’s policies as reflected in the TFEU and Europe 2020 and its respective flagship initiatives and other policies set out in the Commission’s strategic priorities.

Given the fact that the programme is a multiannual programme covering a period of five years, and that the ESS aims to maintain its role as a key player in the statistical field, the programme is ambitious in terms of scope and objectives, but the implementation of the programme will follow a step-wise approach. The development of an effective priority-setting and simplification mechanism will be an objective of the programme.

Statistical infrastructure

The programme will strive to establish a statistical information infrastructure. This infrastructure has to be prepared for the wide and intensive use of various applications.

Policy-making drives the decisions to produce European statistics. However, those statistics should also be available and easily accessible to other decision-makers, researchers, businesses and European citizens in general as they constitute a public good and are paid for by European citizens and businesses, who should benefit equally from the services provided. For the infrastructure to fulfil this role it has to be designed according to a sound conceptual framework which, on the one hand, ensures fitness for a range of purposes and, on the other hand, allows flexible adaptation to evolving users’ needs in the years ahead.

The infrastructure of statistical information is presented below:

STATISTICAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE


Within this overarching scheme, the programme will further distinguish three pillars of statistical information: Business; People’s Europe; and Geospatial, Environmental, Agricultural and Other Sectoral Statistics.

Union and relevant global policies are the instruments that specify the statistical requirements to which the programme will respond through the re-engineered structure and corresponding production processes. Therefore, each individual Union and global policy is reflected in the different components of the statistical infrastructure and is covered by specific activities in the programme. New policies identified in the years ahead will be covered by establishing new derivation paths of indicators/accounts based on the statistical data produced within the three pillars.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION — STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS



Objectives

The general objective of the programme is for the ESS to continue to be the leading provider of high-quality statistics on Europe.

Bearing in mind the available resources both at national and Union level as well as the response burden, the following specific objectives shall be pursued in statistical actions undertaken for the implementation of the programme:

—Objective 1: provide statistical information in a timely manner, to support the development, monitoring and evaluation of the policies of the Union properly reflecting priorities, while keeping a balance between economic, social and environmental fields and serving the needs of the wide range of users of European statistics, including other decision-makers, researchers, businesses and European citizens in general, in a cost-effective manner without unnecessary duplication of effort;

—Objective 2: implement new methods of production of European statistics aiming at efficiency gains and quality improvements;

—Objective 3: strengthen the partnership within the ESS and beyond in order to further enhance its productivity and its leading role in official statistics worldwide; and

—Objective 4: ensure that delivery of such statistics is kept consistent throughout the whole duration of the programme, provided that this does not interfere with the priority-setting mechanisms of the ESS.

Those specific objectives are split into different priority areas described below. Objectives 1 and 4 are covered by ‘I. Statistical outputs’, Objective 2 by ‘II. Production methods of European statistics’ and Objective 3 by ‘III. Partnership’.

I. STATISTICAL OUTPUTS

1. Indicators

1.1.   Europe 2020

The endorsement of Europe 2020 by the European Council of June 2010 has shaped to a large extent the strategic agenda for the Union and national policies in the years ahead. That agenda establishes a number of headline targets and flagship initiatives for which statistical indicators have to be delivered by the ESS in a number of areas (i.e. improving the conditions for innovation, research and development, promoting employment, meeting Union climate change and energy objectives, resource efficiency, improving education levels, including learning mobility, active and healthy ageing, and promoting social inclusion through the reduction of poverty).

Objective 1.1.1

Provide high-quality statistical information, which should be available in a timely manner, to monitor the implementation of Europe 2020. New indicators shall, to the extent possible, be based on available statistical data.

The objective will be implemented by the making available of:

—updated headline target indicators for Europe 2020 (in the areas of employment, research and development, innovation, energy/climate change, education, environment, social protection, social inclusion and poverty) on the Commission (Eurostat) website;

—statistics to support the monitoring of the implementation of Europe 2020 flagship initiatives;

—additional indicators as an input for the ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of the economic, social and environmental policies of the Union; and

—employment indicators distinguishing between part-time and full-time employment, as well as indicators on unemployment that take into account people in activation policies such as training.

1.2.   Economic governance

The crisis and the tensions in the financial markets have highlighted the need to strengthen the economic governance of the Union. Decisive steps in economic governance and coordination have already been taken by the Union, some of which will have major statistical implications, in addition to ongoing statistical activities.

Objective 1.2.1

Develop new and enhance existing statistical information relevant for Union decision-makers and the public at large in relation to the strengthened and integrated economic governance of the Union and the surveillance cycle integrating the Stability and Growth Pact and the economic policy.

The objective will be implemented by:

—providing statistical input for the macroeconomic imbalances scoreboard and the underlying analysis;

—providing statistical input for an enhanced Stability and Growth Pact specifically aimed at the production and provision of high-quality statistics on public debt;

—developing and producing a set of indicators to measure competitiveness; and

—implementing a robust quality management in the production chain, also covering upstream public finance data and the underlying workflows in Member States.

Objective 1.2.2

Provide Union decision-makers with reliable statistics and indicators for administrative and regulatory purposes and for monitoring specific Union policy commitments.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the definition of the scope of statistics for administrative and regulatory purposes and the agreement with users on such scope; and

—the definition, as appropriate, implementation and explanation of a robust quality management framework for those indicators.

1.3.   Economic globalisation

The social, economic and other effects of the financial crisis, the increase in cross-border flows and the fragmentation of production processes have highlighted the need for a more coherent framework and enhanced measurement of globalised production.

Objective 1.3.1

Enhance the indicators and statistical information available on economic globalisation and global value chains for Union decision-makers and the public at large.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the updating of existing indicators on economic globalisation available on the Commission (Eurostat) website;

—the development of new indicators on global value chains, including flows of and dependency on natural resources;

—the analysis of the global value chains, possibly through appropriate input/output tables, and foreign trade and business statistics, including micro-data linking; and

—the examination of the need to reform the calculation and allocation of financial intermediation services.

2. Accounting frameworks

The Commission Communication of 20 August 2009 entitled ‘GDP and beyond: Measuring progress in a changing world’, and the publication of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress have given new impetus to the key challenge for the ESS, namely how to achieve better statistics on cross-cutting issues and more integrated statistics to describe complex social, environmental and economic phenomena beyond the traditional measures of economic output. The European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA) offers an integrated and consistent framework for all economic statistics that should be complemented by other indicators in order to provide more comprehensive information for policy- and decision-making.

2.1.   Economic and social performance

The economic crisis has reinforced the need to have a set of high-quality macroeconomic indicators to better understand and analyse economic fluctuations and their effects on society, and thereby facilitate the decision-making process. Increasingly globalised production makes it necessary to develop a consistent framework that facilitates the interpretation and integration of statistics from different domains.

Objective 2.1.1

Supplement measurement of economic performance by different dimensions of globalisation, the quality of life, access to goods and services, environmental sustainability, health, well-being, social cohesion and social inclusion. Develop a framework for the analysis of globalised production.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the implementation and compilation of annual and quarterly national accounts as well as annual regional accounts in accordance with ESA;

—the production of indicators on income and consumption distribution across households (by reconciling national accounts aggregates with household survey data or administrative data);

—the compilation of timely and high-quality price statistics, notably the harmonised indices of consumer prices;

—the development of satellite accounts for new areas;

—the creation of a database for growth and productivity measurement, taking account of changes in productivity in the public sector as well as the private sector;

—the development of a conceptual framework for the analysis of globalised production;

—the development of a conceptual framework for the measurement of quality of life and well-being; and

—the alignment of the corresponding accounting and statistical concepts to the extent possible.

Objective 2.1.2

Provide key macroeconomic and social indicators and Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs) as a coherent set of indicators addressing the Union and global statistical data requirements and adjust PEEIs to meet evolving users’ needs.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the coordinated development of the dashboards of key macroeconomic, social and sustainable development indicators;

—the availability of a harmonised methodology for key macroeconomic and social indicators and PEEIs;

—the enhancement of international comparability of indicators;

—the provision of improved tools to facilitate the interpretation and communication of indicators; and

—the availability of harmonised housing and related statistics for all Member States.

2.2.   Environmental sustainability

Protecting, preserving and improving the environment for present and future generations, as well as combating the effects of climate change, are very high on the European agenda and are objectives of the Treaties. Efficient policies in those domains require statistical information across various areas.

Objective 2.2.1

Provide environmental accounts and climate change-related statistics, taking into account international developments in this area.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the development of a coherent system of environmental accounts as ‘satellite accounts’ to the main national accounts, providing information on atmospheric emissions, energy consumption, flows and reserves of material natural resources and water, trade in basic and in critical raw materials, environmental taxation and spending on environmental protection, possibly including green growth/procurement;

—the upgrading, development, production and dissemination of indicators that show secondary pressures, impacts of climate change, including on health, vulnerabilities and adaptation progress; and

—the development of a headline indicator measuring global environmental pressure.

3. Data

3.1.   Business

European enterprises are the focus of a large number of Union policies. In addition, they are responsible for the provision of basic data. Accordingly, business statistics in the broad sense are in heavy demand to support the decision-making process but also to help European citizens and businesses understand the impact of those policies, differentiating between large enterprises, mid-caps and small and medium-sized enterprises for which there is an increased need for detailed and harmonised statistics. There is simultaneously a need to reduce the administrative and reporting burden.

Objective 3.1.1

Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of statistical production processes. Provide high-quality statistics on key areas where enterprises are the centre of interest, such as business statistics, short-term indicators, their investment in human capital and skills, international transactions, globalisation, internal market monitoring, R & D and innovation, and tourism. Special attention should be paid to the availability of data in high value-added industrial or services sectors, in particular in the green, digital or social economy (such as health and education).

The objective will be implemented by:

—the reuse of data available in the statistical system or in society, and the production of a common infrastructure and of common tools;

—the provision of statistical information and indicators on business on an annual and infra-annual basis;

—the provision of statistical information describing the position of Europe in the world and the Union’s relationships with the rest of the world;

—the provision of statistical information for the analysis of global value chains and the development of the euro Group Register as a backbone for collecting cross-domain information on globalisation;

—the rebalancing of statistical collections for trade in goods and trade in services with improved availability of data on services and actions to rebalance statistical information on services and goods;

—the development of internal market monitoring tools, such as the food price monitoring tool and related indicators;

—the provision of statistics on key areas of innovation and R & D performance through extended use of patent registers and extended research and statistical use of individual micro-data;

—the provision of statistics on tourism supply and demand through optimised data collection and better integrated data from tourism with other domains; and

—the provision of statistics on resource use and resource efficiency based to the extent possible on existing data collection.

3.2.   People’s Europe

European citizens are at the heart of Union policies. Consequently, social statistics in the broad sense are in heavy demand to support the decision-making process and to monitor the outcome of social policies, but also to help European citizens assess the impact of those policies on their lives and well-being.

Objective 3.2.1

Provide statistics on key areas of social policy where the citizen is the centre of interest, such as well-being, sustainability, social cohesion, poverty, inequalities, demographic challenges (in particular population ageing and migration), the labour market, education and training, including childhood education, adult learning, vocational training and learning mobility of young people, culture, physical activity, quality of life, safety, health, disability, consumption, free movement and the internal market, mobility of young people, technological innovation and new lifestyle choices. Those statistics shall be disaggregated by gender where appropriate, for groups that are of special interest to social policy makers. Priorities shall be set in accordance with Article 6.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the putting in place of a consolidated basic infrastructure for European Social Statistics, including survey and administrative-based data collections and a common set of core variables;

—the development of core social surveys providing data (including micro-data) on persons and households streamlined and complemented by additional and less frequent micro-data collections;

—the development of statistics provided on education and training, including a rationalisation and modernisation of the Adult Education Survey;

—the provision of statistics on inequalities of income, providing a comparable national headline indicator, as well as data on inequalities of access to basic goods and services;

—methodological work on physical activity and cultural statistics;

—the provision of statistics on safety from crime; health, as agreed under the framework Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work (1); and disability;

—the implementation of actions of the work programme on mainstreaming of migration statistics;

—the provision of quality-of-life indicators to measure progress of societies; and

—the commencement of preparations of the next census round (scheduled for 2021).

3.3.   Geospatial, environmental, agricultural and other sectoral statistics

The combination of statistics with spatially referenced data and geospatial analysis will offer new opportunities that the ESS will explore further. Specific issues, such as confidentiality and statistical validity of small area estimations, will need to be given particular attention.

Energy and transport statistics to support Europe 2020 and climate change policy will be of high importance in the future.

The significance of agriculture among the Union policies will remain during 2013-17. The statistical work will be strongly influenced by the outcome of the reflection on the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013. Focus will be on environmental, biodiversity/ecosystem-related, economic, human health and safety and social dimensions.

Objective 3.3.1

Support evidence-based policy-making by a more flexible and increased use of spatial information combined with social, economic and environmental statistical information.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the further development, maintenance and operation of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE), established by Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), and in particular by the Union’s geo-portal;

—the making available of a range of geographic information through cooperation with Union programmes for land use surveys and remote sensing; and

—the integration of statistical data when relevant, thus creating a multisource flexible infrastructure for the provision of targeted spatio-temporal analysis.

Objective 3.3.2

Provide environmental statistics to support the policy-making process of the Union.

The objective will be implemented by:

—A set of key environmental statistics on resources, such as on waste and recycling, water, raw materials deposits, ecosystems services and biodiversity at national and where possible regional level, and a set of key climate change-related statistics to support mitigation and adaptation actions and policies at all relevant levels from local to Union level.

Objective 3.3.3

Provide energy and transport statistics to support the policies of the Union.

The objective will be implemented by the production and dissemination of statistics on:

—renewable energy;

—energy savings/energy efficiency; and

—transport safety, passenger mobility, road traffic measurement and intermodal freight transport.

Objective 3.3.4

Provide agriculture, fisheries and forestry statistics for the development and monitoring of the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies, reflecting key European strategic objectives related to sustainability as well as rural development by carrying out regular activities related to the development, production and dissemination of statistics.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the review and simplification of the agricultural data collection in line with the Common Agricultural Policy review post-2013;

—the redesign of agricultural data collection processes, in particular with the objective of improving quality and timeliness of the data provided;

—the thorough review of the land use/cover data management system and the elaboration and implementation of a new system on that basis;

—the implementation of the data collection system for coherent agri-environmental indicators, based on existing data where possible;

—the provision of appropriate breakdowns by region; and

—the implementation and dissemination of a set of key forestry data from Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting for Forestry, such as forest area, volume and value of standing timber and economic accounts for forestry and logging.

II.   PRODUCTION METHODS OF EUROPEAN STATISTICS

The ESS is currently facing a number of challenges: increasing demand for high-quality statistics, a growing need for complex multidimensional statistics, the appearance of new actors on the information market, constraints on resources, the need to further reduce the statistical burden on respondents as well as the diversification of communication tools. This implies adapting the production and dissemination methods of European official statistics in a progressive way.

1. ESS quality management

Objective 1.1

Implement a quality management system in the ESS based on the Code of Practice.

Strengthen the sharing of good practices in the implementation of the Code of Practice and ensure that quality reporting is targeting different user needs.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the introduction of new monitoring mechanisms and a second round of peer reviews to assess compliance with the Code of Practice;

—the alignment of the quality assurance frameworks of the ESS and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB);

—the meeting of the needs of users for quality reporting; and

—the standardisation of quality reports in various statistical domains at Union level.

2. Priority-setting and simplification

The ESS is facing a major challenge: how to provide high-quality European statistics to satisfy increasing needs for statistics in a context of substantially reduced budgets of Member States and a zero-growth human resource policy at the Commission and in Member States which, for some bodies, will result in a real reduction in human resources. Given those resource constraints at European and national level, it is important to strengthen priority-setting and simplification measures, which require the commitment of all ESS partners. A priority-setting mechanism has been introduced as an integrated part of the preparation of annual work programmes and will be implemented throughout the duration of the programme. This involves, among other things, an annual review of existing statistical requirements, taking as its point of departure initiatives proposed by the Commission for reducing statistical requirements considering the interests of users, producers and respondents. The process should be pursued in close cooperation with users and producers of European statistics.

Objective 2.1

Implement a priority-setting mechanism for the ESS in order to simplify reporting requirements and to adjust to new needs for statistics while taking into account the constraints on the producers, the response burden and the needs of users.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the definition of priorities and the allocation of resources in accordance with those priorities;

—the definition of priorities for the ESS as part of the annual work programme referred to in Article 9;

—the taking into account of the results of user and producer consultations in the annual work programme; and

—the communication to users of the statistical areas to be simplified and of the data collection to be reduced/discontinued.

3. Multi-purpose statistics and efficiency gains in production

Objective 3.1

Put in place gradually, taking into account costs generated in the ESS by implementation, an ESS business architecture allowing more integrated production of European statistics; harmonise and standardise statistical production methods and metadata; enhance the horizontal (across statistical domains) and vertical (across ESS partners) integration of statistical production processes in the ESS in respect of the principle of subsidiarity; use and integrate multiple data sources; produce multi-purpose statistics. Particular attention will be given to confidentiality issues that will arise with increased use, reuse and exchange of micro-data and administrative records.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the greater use of appropriate administrative data in all statistical areas;

—the identification and use of new data sources for European statistics;

—the increased involvement of the Commission (Eurostat), and national statistical authorities in the design of administrative records;

—the wider use of statistical matching and data linking techniques for increasing the offer of European statistics;

—the use of the European approach to statistics for quick policy response in specific and duly justified cases;

—greater integration of European statistics production processes through ESS coordinated actions;

—further harmonisation of statistical concepts across statistical domains;

—the development and implementation of flexible IT reference infrastructure and technical standards for improving interoperability, sharing of data and metadata, and common data modelling;

—the use of standard IT tools across statistical business processes;

—the development of methodological standards in order to increase use and availability of harmonised methodologies (including mixed-mode approaches to data collection) and harmonised metadata;

—the strengthening of the role of statistical business registers as the place where the statistical units for all business-related statistics are maintained and used as a source for national accounts; and

—the improvement of the provision of metadata, namely background information on how data are collected, the quality of data and how to render data more readily understandable to users.

Objective 3.2

Ensure the good functioning and coherence of the ESS through effective collaboration and communication.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the effective and efficient support for partnership within the ESS;

—the definition and implementation of processes for burden and work sharing within the ESS; and

—the further development and making operational of collaborative networks.

4. Dissemination and communication

Objective 4.1

Make the ESS the first data source on European statistics for all users and, in particular, for public and private decision-makers, by providing a high-quality statistical information service based on the principles of free and easy access to European statistics.

Intensifying and extending the dialogue between users and producers of statistics to meet user needs for high-quality statistics. An early involvement of users in new developments is key to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the ESS.

Extend and rationalise the range of dissemination products to meet the needs of users using new technologies.

Set up a cost-efficient, integrated and secure infrastructure within the ESS for access to confidential data for scientific purposes.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the recognition of the ESS as the first reference point for users of European statistics;

—the putting in place of an integrated secure infrastructure for access to Union micro-data;

—the putting in place of a system to address users’ requests for immediate access and advice in interpretation of statistical information;

—the adjustment of dissemination products to the users’ needs using new technologies;

—an increased number of statistical outputs on cross-cutting issues;

—the increased use of new communication and dissemination technologies (e.g. SDMX-based);

—an increased offer of micro-data sets for statistical research purposes in accordance with Union and national law on data confidentiality;

—the preparation of data sets to facilitate the use of statistical data for educational and research purposes.

5. Training, innovation and research

Objective 5.1

Satisfy learning and development needs in the ESS based on a combination of training courses and learning and development opportunities.

Improve the collaboration between ESS members for the transfer of knowledge and sharing and implementation of best practices and common innovative approaches in the production of statistics.

Organise the activities, participation and contribution of the research communities in the improvement of the statistical production chains and of the quality of official statistical information.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the development of a postgraduate degree (e.g. Master in Official Statistics);

—the provision of training programmes addressing the user’s and other citizen’s needs;

—the wider application of results of research projects in statistical production and dissemination;

—the recognition of the ESS as a reference point for the statistical research communities;

—the extensive involvement of the research communities in research activities in official statistics; and

—the putting in place of adequate instruments for the exchange of practices and implementation of common solutions in the ESS.

III.   PARTNERSHIP

1. Partnership within the ESS and beyond

In the spirit of partnership, the national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) are responsible for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

Objective 1.1

Implement the enhanced ESS governance framework.

The objective will be implemented by the implementation of the revision of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 and of Commission Decision 2012/504/EU of 17 September 2012 on Eurostat (3);

Objective 1.2

Enhance the coordinating role of the Commission (Eurostat) as the European Union’s Statistical Office.

The objective will be implemented by:

—the association of the Commission (Eurostat) with all Commission initiatives with regard to statistical aspects at an early stage; and

—regular stakeholder dialogues at top management level.

Objective 1.3

Strengthen the cooperation with the ESCB and the European and international organisations involved in the production of data for statistical or administrative purposes through common projects and coordinated developments. Ensure consistency between Union and international standards.

The objective will be implemented by:

—implementing a common quality framework for the ESS and the ESCB;

—increasing involvement of the Commission (Eurostat) in international advisory groups;

—defining and implementing new ways of cooperation to ensure that statistical developments are well coordinated between international organisations and that work is allocated efficiently; and

—implementing the new United Nations System of National Accounts, ESA, the United Nations System of Environmental and Economic Accounts, the European Environmental Economic Accounts and the Balance of Payments manuals.

Objective 1.4

Promote and implement statistical advisory and statistical assistance activities in countries outside the Union in line with the priorities of the foreign policy of the Union, with particular emphasis on enlargement and the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The objective will be implemented by:

—exercising ESS leadership in the international arena;

—delivering data for Union foreign policy purposes;

—supporting Commission services for the implementation of development and international cooperation policies, in their relations with international organisations and in matters of common statistical interest with third-country regions or third countries;

—disseminating relevant statistical data to support the enlargement process and negotiations;

—minimising requests for derogations from new Member States leading to unavailability of data;

—establishing agreements and Memoranda of Understanding with third countries;

—designing and implementing technical cooperation programmes;

—focusing technical assistance on data harmonisation and delivery; and

—improving cooperation and coordination activities among the members of the ESS.


(1) OJ L 354, 31.12.2008, p. 70.

(2) OJ L 108, 25.4.2007, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 251, 18.9.2012, p. 49.