Reducing the administrative burden in official statistics Presentation to the High Level Group on Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens 22.

Reducing the administrative burden in official statistics

Presentation to the High Level Group on Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens

22 October 2010

Hannele OrjalaDirector, Business Trends Department

Outline

Finnish Action Plan for reducing administrative burden Operating environment and general preconditions for

reducing the response burden in statistics An extensive use of administrative data

Enterprise data collection programme of Statistics Finland Measurement of the response burden in statistics

Development of respondent relations

Conclusions

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Statistics Finland 2009

Government organization, founded 1865, located in Helsinki 1,020 employees, 200 statistical interviewers, 876 staff-years 65% of staff hold at least lowest level tertiary or university qualification Total funding EUR 63.5 million, revenue from external financing

19% of funds 200 statistical topics, 650 statistical releases 75 % of Finland’s official statistics comes from SF

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Finnish Action Plan for the reduction of the administrative burden on businesses 2009-2012

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy (MEE) launched the project in August 2008

In March 2009 the Finnish Government approved a decision-in-principle on the Action Plan for 2009-2012

The aim is to reduce burden by 25 per cent from the 2006 level by the end of 2012

The Action Plan Covers all the key areas considered as most burdensome by

businesses Focuses on measures that alleviate the administrative burden of

enterprises Results from the baseline measurement will be finalised in

autumn 2010

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The Action Plan contains eight priority areas + one horizontal priority

1. Taxation 2. Employers’ reporting obligations 3. Financial reporting 4. Public procurement5. Environmental permit procedures 6. Food safety and quality 7. Statistics8. Agricultural subsidization procedures

Development of electronic communication for businesses is the horizontal priority

Development of eGovernment is a key measure to reduce administrative burden in Finland

Statistical regulations of the EU based on

THE TREATY ON THE FUNCTIONING OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, article 338 (ex Article 285 TEC)

1. …shall adopt measures for the production of statistics where necessary for the performance of the activities of the Union.

2. The production of Union statistics shall conform to impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality; it shall not entail excessive burdens on economic operators.

REGULATION (EC) No 223/2009 …on European statistics and …on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities…

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EU legal acts in force relating to Statistics Finland 2001– 2009

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EU legislation and statistics – what can a Member State do?

Heavy use of administrative and commercial data (Finland 40-50 different sources, 96% of input data comes from them)

Methodological solutions (editing, imputing, mix-mode sources) Utilization of European Sample Scheme, thresholds,

simplications of legislation Influence the legislation in advance, example Statistics on

tourism (Council: Working Party on Statistics)

”If a Member State represents less than 1% of the total number of nights spent in the EU, the exemption could apply to establishments with less than 20 bed places.”

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Operating environment and general preconditions for reducing the response burden

Year Milestones in statistics production in Finland – preconditions for reducing the administrative burden

1960s Development of automated data processing systems in public administration

1964 Personal Identity number was introduced

1968-71 Foundation of the Business Register and Population Register in Finland

1970s Collaboration between register authorities started

1980s Enterprise ID for all systems in Tax Administration’sID system, Building/dwelling number in Building and Dwellings Register

1990 Register-based Population Census as 2nd country in the world

1994 Utilization of value added taxation data was started – monthly data on turnover and wages

2001 System of uniform identifiers for businesses in all administrative sources

Finnish Statistics Act (2004):

Obliges use of existing data (if suitable)Guarantees access to administrative sourcesState authorities and social security institutionsare obliged to submit their data to Statistics Finland

Before deciding on the new data to be collected a statistical authority shall consult with the respondents or their representatives

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Direct collection vs. utilization of administrative datain statistics on enterprises

Business statistics

Number of enterprises,

direct data collection

Administrative data

Structural Business Statistics

8,000 (3%) 270,000

Business Register 25,000 (5%) over 550,000

Short Term Business Statistics

• Turnover 2,000 (1%) 250,000

• Wages and salaries

61(<0.001%) 110,000

Administrative burden per country (Source: European Commission 2006)

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Development of Business Data Collection at Statistics Finland - Programme 2007-2011

Coordinate official statistics Identify and evaluate development needs Support and carry out development projects

(e.g. coordination and optimization of samples, Business Register as sampling frame, etc.)

Share information and good practices, cooperate Measure response burden of statistics in Finland Participate in the Finnish Action Plan for reducing

administrative burden

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Enterprise data collection programme 2007-2011

ObjectivesImprove and harmonize data collections from enterprises

and serve enterprise data suppliers, especially large enterprises

Replacement of statistics-specific sample frames with a single frame (Business Register), sample coordination and optimization

Standard solutions for serving enterprises and treatment of data in all stages of the enterprise data collection process (feedback, web-services,...)

Reduction of data suppliers’ response burden

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Developing direct data collection Action Background/information

Data supplier feedback Compulsory according to the Finnish Statistics Act (2004)

Electronic data collection 76-100%

• Electronic response alternative - Xcola in all data collections (2007)• Automated data collection in accommodation statistics (2006)• Paperless data collection (19 out of 70 economic statistics)

Comprehensive information on data collections online

http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/keruu/yritys_en.html

Enterprise data collection service

http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/keruu/tiedonkeruupalvelu_yrityksille_en.html

FIA – fully integrated accounting system

Partners with enterprises, Tax Authorities and many other organisations

Common web identification One common system with other authorities (2011-)

Enterprise data collection service – an example Contains information about the inquiries

60-70 independent data collection processes Data collection pages, an enterprise can ;

find basic information about the inquiriesseek guidance for answering inquirieslog in to the inquiry / answer via webfind links to inquiry results find contact information of statisticscheck which Statistics Finland’s data collections concern

them

19.04.23Statistics Finland

Data collection service

19.04.23Statistics FinlandData collections

16 June 2008 18Hannele Orjala

http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/keruu/yritys_en.html

19.04.23Statistics Finland Data collection service

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Enterprise data collection service -content

Statistics Finland

Enterprise data collection service

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Data direct from hotel management system – XML Web Service – an example

Choose month and send the report

Choose report to Statistics Finland

October

October

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Experiences in Finland

Trade Magazine for Hotels and Restaurants: “Data reporting is now extremely easy.”

Data quality is good Data is coming faster than before, just a few days after the

reference period Response burden is almost zero, previously 1-2 hours per month Costs have fallen in terms of working hours, mailing and printing

expenses Cooperation with Eurostat (MEETS ESSnet project) and IT

enterprises continues, results for all Member States

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Response burden (2009) 21% of enterprises received at least one data collection 68% received only one inquiry Burden measurement: Questionnaires in 41 surveys 2008-2009

Over 13,500 responses Modification of Standard Cost Model

Table. Direct data collections according to size of enterprise

*Active enterprise= liable to pay VAT on business operations, and/or employer enterprise or included in the withholding tax register

Size category of personnel

Number of data collectionsPercentage of

active enterprises*1 2-4 5-9 10- Total

Under 10 persons 45,059 8,321 267 10 53,657 16%10-49 persons 3,255 7,925 2,853 122 14,155 91%50-249 persons 94 646 1,246 752 2,738 100%Over 249 persons 12 47 127 496 682 100%Total 48,420 16,939 4,493 1,380 71,232 21%% 68% 24% 6% 2% 100% 

Statistics Finland total:Did you find that answering to the inquiry was? – an example of results

19.04.23Statistics Finland

Statistics Finland total :Sources of response burden - an example of results

19.04.23Statistics Finland

Direct business data collections, response burden 2008

Staff-years(Source: Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) estimation about employees’ average working hours per annum (year 2008), staff-year = total of working hours / 1717.5)

Statistics Finland 190 staff-yearsNational Board of Customs: Intrastat 210 staff-yearsCosts

(Source: Private sector monthly salaries average, year 2008, in Classification of Occupations: Clerks)

Statistics Finland’s direct data collections EUR 8.3 millionNational Board of Customs: Intrastat EUR 9.2 million

19.04.23Statistics Finland

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Structure of cooperation with data providers and enterprises

Suppliers and sources of

data

Keepers of administrative

data files

Enterprises and

corporations

Government data administration (JUHTA),

sub-division for register providers

Appointed coordinator at Statistics Finland for each administrative data

provider

Regular bilateral meetings at different levels of organizations

Liaison group between business sector and Statistics Finland since

early 1990s

Coordinator and working group for large enterprises

Data collection service – feedback, web service

Agenda 19.10.2010

-SNA and ESA-ROAD TRAFFIC TRANSPORT STATISTICS-EGR- STS Sales inquiry

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Conclusions The aim is to achieve high-quality and coherent economic statistics for

users and reduce response burden (Strategy of Statistics Finland 2007)

Development focus on Direct data collections / automated direct data collecting Services to data providers and (large) enterprises Methodological exploitation of administrative data Reshaping of statistical production process Consistent systems / processes within public sector International cooperation with other statistical offices

Tools Programme for the development of data collections from enterprises 2007-2011 and the

Finnish Action Plan for reduction of administrative burden 2009-2012 Cooperation with data providers and respondents

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Thank you for your attention!

Hannele Orjala

Director, Business Trends Department

Statistics Finland

[email protected]

www.stat.fi/index_en.html