15 Education statistics
| (27103)
15615/05
COM(05) 625
| Draft Regulation on the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning
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| Legal base | Article 285(1) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Education and Skills
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 14 July 2006
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 34-xx (2005-06), para 4 (1 March 2006)
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Previous scrutiny of the document
15.1 Since the mid-1990s, Eurostat has collected and disseminated
statistics about education on the basis of "gentlemen's agreements"
with Member States. The purpose of the proposed Regulation is
to provide a legal base for the work and to improve the comparability,
comprehensiveness and quality of statistics on education and lifelong
learning in the Member States. The Commission considers this necessary
so as to obtain reliable data for the formulation and monitoring
of EC policies on, for example, employment, competitiveness and
social and economic cohesion. It also argues that the statistics
are required for co-operation between Member States on educational
matters under Article 149 of the EC Treaty.
15.2 The draft Regulation refers to statistics in
three "domains":
- Domain 1
covers annual statistics on education and training systems, including
data on costs, outputs and participation and completion rates.
- Domain 2 covers statistics
on participation in lifelong learning by people aged 25-64. Member
States would be required to provide the data every five years.
- Domain 3 covers education
and lifelong learning statistics not covered by domains 1 and
2.
15.3 "Implementing measures" would deal
with the selection of the subjects to be covered by the domains.
The "implementing measures" would be decided through
the Comitology procedure.[49]
15.4 When we considered the draft regulation in March,[50]
the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher
Education at the Department of Education and Skills (Bill Rammell)
told us that that the draft Regulation would legitimise the current
collection and analysis of the statistics to be covered by domains
1 and 2. But the scope of the third domain would be "entirely
open-ended". This could lead to the imposition on Member
States of requirements to collect data which would be contrary
to the principle of subsidiarity. Moreover, the open-ended nature
of domain 3 could result in excessive burdens on schools and other
educational institutions.
15.5 We recognised the desirability of a Regulation
to provide legal authority for Eurostat's continuing work on statistics
about education and lifelong learning. But we agreed with the
Minister that the provisions on domain 3 were drafted in such
broad terms as to enable requirements to be imposed on Member
States which could be excessive. We asked for his views on whether
it would be desirable if the Council, rather than the Commission,
were responsible for the adoption of the implementing measures.
The Minister's letter of 14 July 206
15.6 The Minister tells us that as a result of the
negotiations on the Regulation, all 25 Member States have reached
agreement that domain 3 should apply only to existing data. There
is, therefore, no scope for the Commission to impose new collections
or the expansion of existing collections. The Commission has expressed
a general reservation about this on the grounds that it restricts
flexibility.
15.7 Our question about whether it would be better
if the Council decided the implementing measures falls. This is
because the agreement to confine domain 3 to existing data means
that new or different collections could not be imposed through
Comitology. Moreover, the Minister says that he is confident that
the UK's representation on the relevant committees is sufficient
to resist any proposals for unacceptable burdens in the collection
of data in domains 1 and 2.
Conclusion
15.8 We are glad that Member States have agreed
to limit the scope of domain 3 so that excessive data protection
obligations cannot be imposed on them and educational institutions.
In the light of the Minister's letter, we are now content to clear
the document from scrutiny.
49 Comitology is the system of committees which oversees
the exercise by the Commission of legislative powers delegated
to it by the Council and the European Parliament. Comitology committees
are made up of representatives of the Member States and chaired
by the Commission. Back
50
See headnote. Back
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