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Section V - Performance Information

Chapter 10 - Engagement with users and producers of statistics

INTRODUCTION

The ABS’ objective, as outlined in Chapter 1 Australian Statistician’s review of 2006–07, and Chapter 3 ABS and the national statistical system, is to lead an effective national statistical service (NSS). This involves providing statistical services that meet the needs of users in government and the broader community. It also involves working with those who are holders of statistical data that can be part of the national statistical service—coordinating statistical services, and assisting the holders in making the data available. Thus, the engagement of the ABS with users and producers of statistical services is vital to meeting this objective.

Reflecting the wide range of users and producers of statistical services, the ABS uses a variety of mechanisms to engage with them, including:

• participating in a wide variety of meetings
• working in partnership
• placing outposted officers in departments and agencies, and
• conducting training courses.

In recent years, the ABS has been examining its role in leading the national statistical service, and how to better coordinate, enhance and expand the service. Key to this is engaging effectively with users and producers of statistics, and exploring new ways of providing assistance. While all the approaches described in this chapter contribute to this aim, a key initiative has been the development of the National Data Network (www.nationaldatanetwork.org) as a resource for users and producers of statistics. For more information see Chapter 3 ABS and the national statistical service.

Australian Government and state and territory government departments and agencies hold considerable amounts of information, and the ABS has been working closely with them to explore and utilise these data holdings. Such partnerships will continue to be a crucial part of continuing to enhance the national statistical service.

The ABS facilitates the Australian Government Statistical Forum, which aims to provide strategic directions for NSS developments. The forum, which meets twice a year, discusses key national and international statistical developments, to facilitate and encourage communication amongst senior staff of Australian Government agencies, with important roles in the NSS. Presentations made during 2006–07 included: aligning the use of spatial data across government; approaches to developing a national statistical policy for Australia; using micro simulation and Geographic Information Systems capabilities to support service delivery decision; and the statistical work of the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics in the Department of Transport and Regional Services.

ABS Regional Directors have been working closely with state and territory governments in assessing their statistical priorities. The annual State Statistical Forum, where the state and territory nominees on ASAC meet together, always includes discussion of state and territory statistical priorities. In the 2008 meeting, there will be a strong focus on how to work together to meet these priorities, using all potential data sources, not just looking to ABS to conduct surveys.

The National Data Network (NDN) uses collaborative approaches to promote access and use of quality statistics. Australia has a strong statistical system but, unlike information on the internet, collections of data held within different organisations are not easy to discover or access. The NDN aims to achieve the best use and return on investment from survey and administrative information resources by:

• providing owners and custodians of information resources with a means of giving greater visibility and wider access to their information resources, while continuing to give close attention to access and use conditions, and
• providing researchers and analysts with an improved means of finding and accessing information resources, particularly those information resources that are not publicly available.

During 2006–07, the demonstration phase of the NDN continued with the establishment of a number of collaborations with web service providers, including:

• signing a memorandum of agreement with the United States Census Bureau regarding the cooperative development between the ABS’ National Data Network and the US Census Bureau’s Data Ferrett/Data Web service
• working with Macquarie University and their Meta Access Management System project on federated identity management software
• cooperating with the Queensland Government on implementation of the Creative Commons licensing framework, and
• assisting CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences with the Privacy Preserving Analytics tool, which is a remote analysis service allowing analysis of a dataset through a secure privacy preserving interface.

At the end of the 2006–07 demonstration phase there are nine NDN custodians, more than 100 information resources in the NDN Central Catalogue and over 150 registered NDN users.

• providing leadership in the use of statistical and administrative date through facilitation of information resource feasibility
• establishing the NDN’s usefulness in informing policy outcomes, and
• Proving the technical feasibility of the initiative
  

The ABS meets with users and producers of statistical services in a wide variety of forums, including:

• participating in bilateral meetings with key agencies and departments
• participating in cross-agency meetings where statistical issues are discussed
• convening meetings of users and/or producers to look at issues in a particular area of interest, and
• consulting on an ad hoc basis in relation to particular initiatives or projects.

Examples of other meetings held in 2006–07 are presented below.

Executive level meetings with key users and producers: Discuss emerging issues and the need for data		During 2006–07, the ABS met with the executives of Australian Government agencies, including Treasury, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and the Department of Health and Ageing. The aim of these meetings was to gain an awareness of needs in the current ABS statistical program, and to build support for initiatives considered for the future ABS work program. ABS executive staff met with senior staff from the tourism division of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (DITR) to discuss tourism statistics, including work undertaken by the ABS to contribute to a review of the international standards for Tourism Satellite Accounts. Regular meetings were held between the ABS Queensland Regional Director and the Queensland State Government Statistician. A range of issues were discussed including statistical priorities for Queensland Government agencies, including information on Indigenous people in the labour force. As a result of an executive level meeting, a memorandum of understanding was signed by the Australian Statistician and the head of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, which set out the framework for cooperation between the two agencies. The framework will facilitate the comparability of financial statistics through cooperation on the definitions, collection and publication of information from the finance industry.
Participation in groups: Contribute to discussions on information needs and data sources, and gain an understanding of the way information is used		Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Group The ABS joined a subgroup of the Council of Australian Governments Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Group, which is developing the legislative framework and governance arrangements for streamlining greenhouse and energy reporting. Longitudinal Surveys Advisory Group The ABS joined a new Longitudinal Surveys Advisory Group, which was established by the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA). The group will provide strategic and policy advice for the future development of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. National Committee for Housing Information The ABS is a member is the National Committee for Housing Information—a national housing data committee established by the Housing Minister’s Advisory Council. It is responsible for the development and management of the national and Indigenous housing data. Tasmania’s Demographic Change Advisory Council The Demographic Change Advisory Council, which is chaired by the Tasmanian Treasurer, brings together senior government ministers and community and business representatives to research and analyse trends relating to demographic change, and to lead and influence discussion and encourage information sharing regarding Tasmania’s demographic opportunities and challenges. The ABS Tasmanian Regional Director has observer status on the council and the ABS also participates on a steering group to advise the council.
Formal user and advisory groups established by the ABS: Discuss issues relating to the ABS statistical program		The ABS convenes a wide range of user and advisory groups. A full list of groups is provided in Appendix 2 User groups advising the ABS. Below are some examples of the work done by the groups. The Rural and Regional Statistics Advisory Group was formed to provide advice to the ABS on rural and regional statistics priorities, development, adequacy and availability from both government and research perspectives. At their biennial meeting in November 2006, the group identified and discussed emerging issues that relate to data priorities for rural and regional areas. Issues discussed at the meeting included assessing the social, environmental and economic consequences of the introduction of water license trading; monitoring the effects that climate change, drought and water management have on regions; and measuring the impact of humanitarian settlement on regional communities and the involvement of migrants in the community. The Health Statistics Advisory Group (HSAG) is a representation of key organisations that use ABS health data. The group advises the ABS on health statistics developments and priorities along with the content for the ABS’ health survey program. The ABS conducted a Review of Strategic Statistical Issues for Future National Health Surveys to determine a strategic approach to managing the scope, content and coverage of future National Health Surveys, and ensure integrations with other national and international health surveys. Proposals were discussed at several meetings of the HSAG and the final proposals were strongly supported at the most recent meeting. The Economic Statistics User Group has provided information and guidance on a wide range of issues, including the ABS’ strategic direction, the update to the System of National Accounts and the Balance of Payments Manual, the implications of revisions to international trade classifications, and progress with the implementation of Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 2006 and the Business Longitudinal Database. The State Accounts User Group has been consulted about using the production approach for the development of estimates of Gross State Product. These newly developed estimates will be implemented in the 2007 release of the annual State Accounts, resulting in a significant improvement in the quality of these estimates.
Consultations on statistical activities: Gather the views of users about aspects of the ABS’ work		Since June 2007, ABS has been consulting with the Australian Government Treasury, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Productivity Commission about ABS plans to implement revisions to standards in the System of National Accounts and Balance of Payment Manual. A consultative workshop conducted for tourism indicators raised awareness of the many indicators that currently exist for the tourism field of statistics. There is now a better understanding of the existence and impact of revisions to the estimates, and a greater engagement of clients with the ABS on both the Tourism Satellite Account and proposed international changes to standards. Other consultations have taken place in the following areas: the proposed content of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey the future direction of regional statistics the strategic review of ABS health surveys a proposal to publish experimental Indigenous Australian data from the recorded crime victims collection for New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, published on 2 June 2007 in Appendix 2 of Recorded Crime—victims, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 4510.0) priority setting for information technology related statistics, and review and evaluation of the 2006 Census Indigenous enumeration strategy.

Australian Statistician Brian Pink, and Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority Chairman Dr John Laker, at the signing of a memorandum of understanding, which set out the framework for cooperation between the two agencies

The ABS works closely with a range of partners to extend the use of statistics by exploring their needs for information, by examining potential data sources (from ABS and elsewhere) that may assist in meeting these needs, and by advising on issues around the collection of statistics. Below are some examples of partnerships with users and producers of statistics in 2006–07.

• Council of Australian Governments

• Department of Health and Ageing

Jane Halton, Department of Health and Ageing Secretary, and Dennis Trewin, previous Australian Statistician, at the signing of the memorandum of understanding

• Suicide Coding Working Group

• Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

• Victorian Department of Human Services

• NSW Department of Community Services

• National Water Commission

In addition, the National Water Commission, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Department of Environment and Water Resources funded the ABS to ‘mesh block’ code the 2005–06 Agricultural Census, in order to deliver more flexible geographical outputs, such as for natural resource management areas and river basins. For more information on mesh blocks see Chapter 15 Statistical standards and infrastructure.

• Social Economic National Coordination Committee

• Executive Steering Committee for Australian Water Resources

• National Land and Water Resources Audit and the Bureau of Rural Sciences

• Productivity Commission

• Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

• Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics

• Australian Innovation Research Centre

• South Australian Government

The ABS in South Australia has also worked closely with the state government to create standard regional boundaries for South Australia’s strategic plan.

Information Development Plans (IDPs) involve a review of the needs of users in a particular area of statistics, a review of the available sources of data, an assessment of the gaps and overlaps in information available, and recommendations (agreed with other data users and holders) on a future work program. In 2006–07, development began on an IDP for innovation, and two IDPs were released:

• Information Paper: Improving Statistics on Children and Youth—An Information Development Plan (cat. no. 4907.0), released on 8 December 2006, and
• Information Paper: Emergency Management Information Development Plan (cat. no. 1385.0), released on 31 October 2006.

The ABS worked with a range of agencies, particularly at the state and territory level, to develop and prepare community indicators. In addition to the projects outlined below, this work also involved bringing many parties together, from within Australia and overseas, in a Community Indicator Workshop.

The ABS hosted the Community Indicator Workshop on 5–6 September 2006, in Melbourne. The aim of the workshop was to share Australian and international experiences in the development of progress measures, community and wellbeing indicators, and to clarify future development of this activity in Australia. This was a valuable opportunity for networking and understanding how the different levels of government develop, implement and use community indicators.

Outcomes of the workshop include additional input as a result of the discussions into regional, national and international development in this field of statistical work, as well as consideration of the ABS’ leadership role in the community indicators’ area.

Deputy Statistician Susan Linacre, and participants at the national community indicators workshop

Agency partner		Project
New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet		An outposted officer worked with the Department of Premier and Cabinet on the development of statistical indicators for the New South Wales State Plan.
Queensland Spatial Information Council		The ABS collaborated with the Queensland Spatial Information Council on a workshop which promoted integrated data sharing between government agencies. The workshop assisted the development, identification, collection and application of Healthy Communities indicators which will strengthen regional and community planning processes.
Western Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Department of the Attorney General		The ABS is working in partnership with the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the Department of the Attorney General to develop the Western Australia Indicator Framework System (WAIFS) which will store metadata and data associated with State Government Performance Indicator Frameworks. The main objectives of the project are to reduce the reporting burden to state government; to increase comparability and data quality across multiple indicator frameworks; and to ensure regular maintenance and reporting against these frameworks. In the longer term it is expected that the project will lead to increased sharing of metadata and data across Western Australia government agencies for research, reporting, decision making and policy formulation purposes.
Tasmania Together Project		The ABS has continued its support for the Tasmania Together Project, assisting with the development of goals, benchmarks and indicators. ABS has also provided assistance in identifying existing data sources for these indicators, or methods for collecting and reporting data to fill existing gaps.

Another way the ABS achieves its objective of engaging with users and producers is by outposting statistical officers to Australian Government and state and territory government agencies. The purpose of many of the longer-term ABS outposted officer positions in Australian Government agencies is to ensure a strong and effective working relationship between the ABS and those agencies. As such, ABS outposted officers contribute to informed decision making by those agencies. The primary objectives of these longer-term relationship-focused outpostings are to:

• strategically engage the host agency on emerging issues, to identify opportunities for the ABS to assist in making informed policy decisions in the future
• feed knowledge of emerging issues back to ABS to ensure that agency needs are understood and considered as part of the ABS Forward Work Program
• promote strong statistical capabilities and structures within the agency to improve their ability to understand and effectively use data
• enhance cooperation between the host agency and ABS
• support the agencies’ current and future information and analytical needs, and
• ensure coordination between agency statistical activities including collecting and disseminating information to reduce duplication of effort and to promote standards. This will improve the comparability of data and cost effectiveness of data gathering activities.

Each ABS outposting is tailored to suit the needs of the agency.

The ABS outposted officer in the New South Wales Premier’s Department has assisted with improving the quality of statistical indicators used for the New South Wales State Plan. Subsequent to this, ABS has been working with the department on a number of issues towards a more integrated statistical service and assessment of the tasks required to improve the statistical data base for New South Wales.

An outposting is currently underway at the Department of Queensland Transport, which is responsible for developing and managing the land, air and sea transport environment in Queensland. The ABS officer is assisting the agency to: improve compatibility and consistency in classifications used and treatment of data; conduct research on data quality issues; and promote standards and statistical training.

ABS statistical advice, provided by an outposted officer to Mineral Resources Tasmania (MRT), led to an improved understanding of the quality and limitations of MRT data and provided the agency with a process to increase the accuracy and timeliness of data, including the data provided to the ABS.

The ABS conducts a range of training courses to assist users in understanding ABS statistics. These courses can also be beneficial to the ABS staff conducting them, as they provide an opportunity to discuss user needs and concerns.

The National Statistical Training Institute (NSTI) in the ABS, along with the state and territory statistical services units in each regional office, coordinated the development and presentation of a wide range of training courses on statistical issues in 2006–07. The demand for external statistical training by the NSTI for government agencies continues to grow.

For example, a pilot training course on Statistics for Policy Makers was delivered to participants from a range of government agencies in South Australia. The course was delivered in five 90-minute modules, and used the policy cycle in the Australian Policy Handbook as the guide. There was a particular focus on the use of data to inform the policy analysis and evaluation stages of the process.

In addition, the ABS conducts seminars which are tailored for particular clients. For example, information sessions on ABS Confidentialised Unit Record Files, Information Skills Programs and Information Consultancy were conducted for a number of agencies. The aim of the sessions was to raise awareness of ABS statistics and services for statistical problem solving.

The Statistical Clearing House (SCH) was established in response to a recommendation in 1996 by the Small Business Deregulation Task Force. Their report recommended that a central clearance process be established for business surveys conducted by the Australian Government. The purpose of the process was to ensure that surveys are necessary, well designed and place minimum burden on business respondents. As such, all surveys that are directed to fifty or more businesses and that are conducted by or on behalf of any Australian Government agency (including the ABS), are subject to clearance by the SCH. In view of its statistical expertise and statutory coordination role, the ABS was empowered to administer the clearance process.

The SCH pays particular attention to eliminating duplication in business surveys, and ensures that surveys conducted follow good statistical methodologies and practices.

Table 10.3 presents the number of survey reviews at various stages of completion for 2006–07. Throughout the year, 107 reviews were completed and all were approved to proceed. The SCH continued to improve surveys, with improvements made in 28 per cent of reviews and provider load being decreased in 15 per cent of surveys.

	Completed	In progress
ABS	25	9
Other	82	7
Total	107	16