39EU Statistical Programme 2018–20
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Committee’s assessment |
Politically important |
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Cleared from scrutiny |
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Document details |
Proposal for a Regulation extending the European Statistical Programme 2013–2017 to 2018–2020. |
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Legal base |
Article 338(1) TFEU; ordinary legislative procedure; QMV |
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Department |
Office for National Statistics |
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Document Number |
(38056), 12056/16 + ADDs 1–3, COM(16) 557 |
Summary and Committee’s conclusions
39.1The European Commission’s statistical office, Eurostat, and the national statistical institutions of EU Member States (including the Office for National Statistics) cooperate in the European Statistical System (ESS). The ESS requires adoption of European Statistical Programmes (ESP) which provide, for a given period, the framework for development, production and dissemination of EU statistics, the main fields of activity and the objectives of the actions envisaged. The current ESP runs from 2013 to 2017.
39.2In September 2016, the European Commission proposed a Regulation to extend the current ESP to cover the period 2018–20, so aligning it to the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).503 One significant feature of the proposal is that the average budgets for the ESP in the three additional years will be 25 per cent higher than the average budgets in the original 2013–17 period, averaging €72.7 million (£64.8 million)504 per annum compared to the €58.4 million (£52.1 million) per annum average over the current five-year period.505
39.3The Government has been supportive of the proposal to extend the European Statistical Programme period until 2020, but has consistently opposed the proposed budgetary increase. As a result, it abstained when the Council adopted a general approach on the proposal at COREPER in December 2016.506 Trilogue negotiations between the Maltese Presidency and the European Parliament began in April 2017, and the previous Committee kept the proposal under scrutiny while the final legislative text was being negotiated.507
39.4Following the conclusion of trilogue negotiations between the Parliament and the Council in early June 2017 (in which the budgetary increase proposed by the Commission was maintained),508 the Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office (Chris Skidmore)509 informed us that the Government had again abstained when the informal trilogue agreement was endorsed by COREPER later that same month. The Regulation was formally adopted by the Parliament on 13 September and by the Council on 9 October. The Minister informed the Committee by letter of 10 October that the Government had abstained on the final vote because of the budgetary issue.510
39.5Our predecessors saw no problem with the proposal to extend the duration of the current European Statistical Programme, except for the financial aspect. We remain of that view, and take note of the Minister’s explanation that no other Member States supported keeping the ESP budget unchanged from previous years. As the final legislative has now been formally adopted by both the European Parliament and the Council, we have cleared the proposal from scrutiny.
Full details of the documents
Proposal for a Regulation extending the European Statistical Programme 2013–2017 to 2018–2020: (38056), 12056/16 + ADDs 1–3, COM(16) 557.
Background
39.6The Commission’s statistical office, Eurostat, and the National Statistical Institutions of EU and EEA/EFTA Member States cooperate in the European Statistical System (ESS). The Office for National Statistics has described the ESS as offering “opportunities to the UK statistical system to find efficiencies whilst maintaining statistical quality”, as well as presenting “considerable opportunity for collaborative working and solving shared statistical challenges”.511
39.7The ESS requires adoption of European Statistical Programmes (ESP) which provide, for a given period, the framework for development, production and dissemination of EU statistics, the main fields of activity and the objectives of the actions envisaged. The duration of a European Statistical Programme is now required to match that of the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). However, the current programme covers the period 2013–17.
39.8To align the Statistical Programme with the MFF, the European Commission tabled a Regulation in September 2016 to extend the current ESP to cover the period 2018–20.512 Its proposal also made recommendations for a number of new priorities within the Statistical Programme, including new statistical outputs and a project to modernise the production methods for statistics.513
39.9One significant feature of the proposal was that the average annual budget for the ESP in the three additional years would be higher than the average budgets in the original 2013–17 period. The Commission proposed that the total financial support for the ESP in 2018, 2019 and 2020 should total €218.1 million (£194.3 million). This represents an increase of nearly 25 per cent in the ESP budget, to an average of €72.7 million (£64.8 million) per annum compared to the €58.4 million (£52.1 million) per annum average over the current five-year period.
39.10The Commission justified this increase by saying that “only additional investment would ensure the development of new statistical outputs and more timely data, as requested by users, without cutting other highly relevant statistics”. It also argued that additional investments in the statistical infrastructure, both in Member States and Eurostat, were needed to “facilitate the use of new data sources for the production of statistical information tailored to users’ needs, which will reduce administrative costs and response burden”.514
39.11The Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office, (Chris Skidmore) submitted an Explanatory Memorandum on the proposal on 22 September 2016.515 It notes that, while the Government is supportive of the proposal to extend the European Statistical Programme period, it preferred an unchanged budget for the extended programme. It has maintained that position throughout the negotiations. In December 2016, the Minister informed the previous Committee that the Government had abstained during a vote by COREPER, which agreed a General Approach on the proposal, because of the budgetary issue.516 The European Parliament agreed its position on the Regulation in March 2017,517 and trilogue negotiations began in April 2017 under the Maltese Presidency of the Council.
39.12The Minister wrote to the Committee again before the summer recess, to inform us that the Council and the European Parliament concluded the trilogues in late May and had agreed, in principle, on the final text of the Regulation.518 This informal agreement has retained the increased annual budgets for the ESP as originally proposed by the Commission.519 The Minister wrote that the UK “received no support from other Member States” to keep the budget for the ESP unchanged. As a result, the Government abstained again when the trilogue agreement was endorsed by qualified majority in COREPER on 15 June 2017.
39.13The Minister concludes by noting that each initiative set out in the Regulation will be the subject of “specific Commission policy communications and/or legislative proposals” in the future, which the UK will use as an opportunity to “argue in favour of reductions in respondent burdens and production costs”, where appropriate. The Regulation extending the ESP to 2018–20 must still be formally adopted by the Council later this year, after it was approved by the Parliament on 13 September.
Our assessment
39.14Our predecessors saw no problem with the proposal to extend the duration of the current European Statistical Programme, except for the financial aspect. We remain of that view, and take note of the Minister’s explanation that no other Member States supported keeping the ESP budget unchanged from previous years. As the final legislative text has already been formally adopted by European Parliament and the Council, we have cleared the proposal from scrutiny.
Implications of Brexit
39.15With respect to the future of the UK’s relationship with the European Statistical System post-Brexit, the Minister has been unable to tell us what the Government’s proposals are. However, he said in his letter of 19 December 2016 that the UK “will continue to play an active role in the international statistical community” and that the Government will continue to “advance the comparability of official statistics within the UK and internationally”. According to his latest letter of 29 June 2017, “this remains the current position and there is nothing further to report at this stage”.
39.16We expect the Minister to keep the Committee—and the House more generally—informed of the implications of Brexit for the UK’s participation in the European Statistical System as the Article 50 negotiations progress, including of any proposals the Government may have for the future of post-Brexit cooperation in this area between the UK and the EU.
Previous Committee Reports
We previously considered the proposal in the following Reports: Thirteenth Report HC 71–xi (2016–17), chapter 11 (12 October 2016); Twenty-second Report HC 71–xx (2016–17), chapter 9 (7 December 2016); and Twenty-sixth Report HC 71–xxiv (2016–17), chapter 9 (18 January 2017).
504 €1 = £0.91973 or £1 = €1.08728 as at 1 September 2017.
505 The European Commission argued this increase was justified because of the need to provide new statistical outputs “without cutting other highly relevant statistics”, and to “facilitate the use of new data sources for the production of statistical information tailored to users’ needs”.
506 The general approach is contained in Council document 15080/16. See also the letter from Chris Skidmore to Sir William Cash (19 December 2016).
507 See our predecessors’ Report of 18 January 2017.
509 The Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office has responsibility for statistics policy.
510 Letter from Chris Skidmore to the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee (10 October 2017).
511 Explanatory Memorandum submitted by the Office for National Statistics (13 February 2012).
513 See for more information our predecessors’ Thirteenth Report HC 71–xi (2016–17), chapter 11 (12 October 2016).
514 See page 10 of the Commission proposal.
515 Explanatory Memorandum submitted by the Office for National Statistics (22 September 2016).
516 Letter from Chris Skidmore to Sir William Cash (19 December 2016).
517 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8–2017–0158&language=EN.
518 Letter from Chris Skidmore to the European Scrutiny Committee (29 June 2017).
1 December 2017