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State and Territory Statistical Services

Objectives

The ABS contributes to the development of well-informed policy and decisions in States and Territories through statistical promotion, leadership and representation. This role is set out in ABS legislation and is supported by formal agreements with State and Territory governments. The State and Territory Statistical Services Program (STSS) supports the ABS objective of an expanded and improved National Statistical Service (NSS) within each State and Territory.

The role of the STSS is:

• advocating for State and Territory statistical priorities
• garnering support from States and Territories in support of national statistical programs
• enhancing the State and Territory governments’ statistical governance and capability
• realising the statistical potential of State and Territory governments’ data through:
  • developing a culture of valuing data
  • improving the quality of administrative data, and
  • ensuring the ongoing development of statistical infrastructure.
  
  

The main outputs of the STSS project are:

• ongoing assessment of statistical priorities for each State and Territory as an input to the ABS forward work program development
• advice and intelligence to ABS national programs on relevant State and Territory statistical needs and issues
• provision of support for the advancement of NSS objectives in the statistical environments of each State and Territory
• collaboration with State and Territory Governments to improve statistical capability and the quality, coherence, comparability, and availability of administrative and other data held by State and Territory government agencies
• statistical projects designed to meet high priority needs of State and Territory Governments
• statistical consultancy services covering a wide range of services including survey design, statistical analysis, methodological advice and assistance, and a range of statistical training and development activities
• provision of support to State and Territory demography work programs as required.

The main medium-term developments in the program are to:

• Progress the statistical priorities projects as endorsed by the State Statistics Forum. The current projects are: data integration, performance reporting, spatially enabling data, and local economic data – due 2013
• Identify and evaluate the demand for, and supply of, statistical data, in collaboration with ABS programs and State and Territory Governments – ongoing
• Develop strategies to fill high priority data gaps for performance indicators for Council of Australian Governments priorities and State and Territory Plans – ongoing
• Develop the statistical governance and capability of State and Territory governments – ongoing
• Support the widest possible use by governments and the community of 2011 Census data – due 2013