Nationally-agreed set of data in public domain
53. A lot of recent improvements in statistical services have delivered enhanced products for the public information role such as the development of Neighbourhood Statistics and the recent improvements to the statistics website. Informing the public and Parliament is vitally important and will remain a substantial priority for us. But the role of statisticians in providing analyses to support informed government decision making is vital too.
54. Indeed there is a concern within government that too much time is being spent on preparing descriptive material for the public release of statistics, when the real demand, from Government, public and Parliament, is for the basic statistics and more analysis of the statistics relevant to policy-making. The current emphasis on preparing descriptive material for public release can mean that too little time is available to adequately assess the implications of the statistics for government.
55. We consider that it would be beneficial to make a clearer distinction between the basic statistics which we assemble and publish to inform public and Parliament, and the analyses and reports assessing the implications of the statistics for policy. The aim would be to achieve greater focus on the most relevant information.
56. To support the development of this approach we feel that, while Ministers decide the scope of what is produced, there should be more openness and consultation around this.
57. Having a clearer separate focus on the public information role - in effect having a nationally agreed set of data to be placed in the public domain would stimulate external debate on the information and analysis that underpins policy-making.
58. We propose to:
- Strengthen our consultation about the scope of official statistics in Scotland, with more clearly-defined priorities for the production, analysis and interpretation of statistics for both policy-making and wider public interest.
Questions
How can we strengthen our consultation about the scope of official statistics?
Should statistics publication be more streamlined e.g. wider access to underlying data rather than descriptive reports?
Would you like to see more publication of policy focussed analyses rather than standard reports?