17 STATISTICS
(a)
(30876)
12732/09
COM(09) 404
(b)
(30882)
12739/09
COM(09) 433
|
Commission Communication on the production method of EU statistics: a
vision for the next decade
Commission Communication: GDP and beyond: measuring progress in a
changing world
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| Legal base | — |
| Documents originated | (a) 10 August 2009
(b) 20 August 2009
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| Deposited in Parliament | (a) 1 September 2009
(b) 4 September 2009
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| Department | (a) UK Statistics Authority
(b) HM Treasury
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| Basis of consideration | (a) EM of 7 October 2009
(b) EM of 4 October 2009
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council
| (a) Not known
(b) possibly 23 October 2009
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
17.1 The European Statistical System is designed to provide comparable
statistics at Community level. It functions as a network comprising
Eurostat, a Directorate-General of the Commission, and the statistical
offices, ministries, agencies and central banks that collect official
statistics in Member States, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and
Switzerland.
17.2 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the market value
of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country
or region in a year.[59]
The measure is commonly used as a benchmark by policy makers.
The documents
17.3 In its Communication on statistics, document
(a), the Commission discusses (non-legislative) proposals for
reforming the production systems of the European Statistical System,
in order to coordinate approaches, exploit synergies and avoid
duplication in the work of national statistical institutes (NSIs)
in Member States. The Commission proposes a different way of working
in order to adapt to a changing statistical environment:
- new requirements for statistics
will continue to increase in terms of quality and quantity;
- the regulatory processes will continue to be
improved and simplified; and
- new ICT tools will continue to be developed to
improve efficiency and reduce burden.
It says this new way could be achieved by taking
advantage of efficiency improvements made possible through the
recently introduced European Statistics Regulation (Regulation
(EC) No 223/2009 and by encouraging improved collaboration between
European Statistical System partners.
17.4 The Commission describes the need to change
the European Statistical System "business architecture"
from a "stovepipe" model to an integrated model. It
notes that the stovepipe model has evolved in a way which has
seen statistics of particular domains being developed independently
from each other. This has a number of advantages such as being
flexible, low-risk and easily mapped to domain managers and specific
regulations. However, the Commission argues that these are outweighed
by the disadvantages such as imposing unnecessary burden on respondents,
incurring high costs to NSIs and making it difficult to collect
cross-domain statistics on, for example, globalisation and climate
change. The proposed integrated model would introduce an holistic
approach to enable improvements in efficiency through the integration
of datasets and by combining data from different sources. Under
this model statistics for specific domains would be produced as
integrated parts of a comprehensive production system (or data
warehouse) based on a common technical infrastructure, making
use of all available quality data sources using standardised software.
17.5 The Commission states that such a change in
business architecture would have consequences, presenting policy
and management challenges for NSIs and for Eurostat:
- NSIs would need to shift emphasis
from being "data-collectors" to being "re-users
of data" so as to make maximum use of the availability of
dynamic data sources;
- they would need to adapt their approach to risks,
concepts and definitions to take account of changing circumstances
concerning data ownership;
- they would need to support users with a comprehensive
communication strategy;
- Eurostat would need to reconsider its approach
to quality assurance in all its dimensions; and
- it would need to introduce a new generation of
statistical legislation together with other instruments to cope
with the increased complexity of integrated statistical production
processes.
17.6 The Commission says that the next steps for
the implementation of its proposals will be:
- to seek the support of the
European Parliament and the Council together with NSIs;
- upon acceptance, submission to the Economic and
Financial Committee for discussion; and
- engagement with user groups at an early stage
through submission of the proposals to the European Statistics
Advisory Committee.
17.7 In its Communication on the GDP measure, document
(b), the Commission:
- asserts that GDP has come to
be regarded as a proxy indicator for "overall societal development
and progress in general;"
- says that it intends to work on creating more
inclusive indicators, that will be internationally recognised
and implemented;
- recalls that, with other organisations, it organised
a 'Beyond GDP' conference in November 2007,[60]
which revealed support for the development of indicators that
complement GDP to help support policy-making decision; and
- notes that indicators already exist, which have
been created to complement GDP — for example, the UNDP Human
Development Index is a composite measure based on GDP, health
and education.
17.8 The Commission lists five actions it intends
to supplement the GDP measure:
- production of a comprehensive
environmental index, a pilot version of which will be presented
in 2010. Initially it will be published annually for the Community
and Member States, with the longer-term goal of publishing it
in parallel to GDP. In addition, the Commission has launched studies
into the feasibility of well-being indicators;
- improving the timeliness of environmental and
social data — GDP and unemployment figures are usually published
within a few weeks of the period they assess whereas environmental
and social data are in many cases published too far after the
fact to provide pertinent information;
- more accurate reporting of distribution and inequalities
between countries, regions and economic and social groups. Far
reaching reforms such as those required to fight climate change
can only be achieved if efforts and benefits are felt to be equitably
shared. Indicators of equal access to services and infrastructure
that are essential to participate fully in society are being developed;
- exploring the idea of a European Sustainable
Development Scoreboard to provide a more up-to-date source of
data; and
- extending, through the European Statistical System,
National Accounts to environmental and social issues, with proposals
in 2010 for a framework for environmental accounting and stepping
up work on monetary valuation of ecosystem goods and services.
17.9 The Commission, in conclusion:
- says that it intends to report
on the implementation and outcomes of the actions it puts by 2012
at the latest;
- notes that GDP is the best single measure of
the performance of a market economy, whilst acknowledging that
it is not meant to be an accurate gauge of longer-term economic
and social progress; and
- says that future policies should be based on
data that are rigorous, timely, publicly accepted and cover all
essential issues.
The Government's view
17.10 The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Angela
E Smith), says that the Government is content with the Communication
on statistics, document (a), commenting that:
- many of the initiatives outlined
by the Commission, such as the increased use of administrative
data, the introduction of improved ICT to realise efficiencies
and the functional re-engineering of statistical systems, have
already been implemented in the UK with good effect; and
- the document does not change Community law, nor
does it impose any policy changes on the UK — rather "it
gently encourages a different way of operating and identifies
areas of significant efficiency savings".
17.11 On the Communication about the GDP measure,
document (b), the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Ian Pearson)
says that the Government welcomes the research proposed, as it
will complement the large volume of data on quality-of-life issues
already published, such as those on crime, working hours, social
capital, social demography and health. He comments further that:
- although it is recognised that
GDP is not a perfect measure of welfare it is important to recognise
how crucial GDP data is to all kinds of economic surveillance,
not least of all because the Government and the Bank of England
rely heavily on GDP statistics in the setting of economic policy;
- measurement of GDP is well developed and easily
understood and GDP is complied using a set of internationally
agreed definitions;
- measuring a broad set of quality of life indicators
is desirable and the Government welcomes efforts to overcome the
methodological challenges;
- it is important that the internationally agreed
procedures for developing National Accounts, coordinated by the
United Nations, are not overlooked; and
- the Office for National Statistics will continue
to engage in international discussions with regards to developments
in the National Accounts and the Government will continue to monitor
developments in this area.
Conclusion
17.12 These Communications discuss important issues
related to the production and use of statistics for policy makers
and report useful Commission initiatives. So whilst we have no
reason not to clear them from scrutiny we draw them to the attention
of the House.
59 The most common approach to measuring GDP is that
it equals private consumption + government spending + (exports
- imports). Back
60
See http://www.beyond-gdp.eu.
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