QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
RELEVANCE
The main users of the data will be government agencies and various community groups with an interest in cultural activities. The results will be used to examine the amount of funding by the three levels of government and to monitor changes in funding over time. This information will assist in the planning and allocation of government funding for future programs.
TIMELINESS
Data for each financial year is published on the ABS website in August of the following year. For example, data for the 2006-07 financial year was published in August 2008.
ACCURACY
Cultural funding data is collected by a census of the three levels of government, so there is no sampling error, but the figures are subject to non-sampling error. Non-sampling errors are inaccuracies that occur because of imperfections in reporting by respondents, and errors made in coding and processing data. These inaccuracies may occur in any enumeration, whether it be a full count or a sample. An example of non-sampling error affecting the Cultural Funding by Government collection is that funding has to be coded to the various categories by respondents and this may be subjective with the possibility that different respondents may code some funding amounts to different categories.
COHERENCE
Categories used in Cultural Funding by Government have been aligned, where possible, with the Industry Classification of the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (ACLC) (cat. no. 4902.0).
INTERPRETABILITY
Statistics for the Australian Government and state and territory governments relate mainly to funding from Australian and state and territory budgets. For some 'off budget' agencies (i.e. agencies which are authorised to operate their own bank accounts), only the funding from annual appropriations is included. Where agency information has not provided appropriate detail to comply with the categories listed in this publication, estimates have been used. Any funding from other sources, such as donations, membership costs or entrance fees, is excluded from analysis.
ACCESSIBILITY
Cultural funding data collected by the ABS is made available through two publications. The ABS publication Cultural Funding by Government, Australia (cat. no. 4183.0) is available for download free of charge from the ABS website. The Cultural Ministers Council Statistics Working Group (CMCSWG) publication Cultural Funding in Australia Three Tiers of Government is available for download free of charge from the CMCSWG website www.culturaldata.gov.au.
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