Official statistics should meet the demands of existing and new users. They should be able to trust official statistics and have their needs for products and services fulfilled. Quality requirements include transparency on methods and production.

The quality system for official statistics

The system for assuring the quality of Norwegian official statistics is based on the Statistics Act and in the European Statistics Code of Practice (PDF). Annually, Statistics Norway prepares a report on the quality of all official statistics requested by Ministry of Finance. This report covers the quality assurance system, the work on coordination and quality evaluation, quality in administrative registers/information systems, quality reviews of individual statistics, user orientation, recommendations for improvement, status of improvement measures, and development of the quality assurance system.

  1. Official statistics shall be developed, produced and disseminated in a professional independent, impartial objective, reliable and cost-effective manner.
  2. The development, production and dissemination of official statistics shall be based on uniform standards and harmonised methods. The statistics shall be relevant, accurate, timely, punctual, accessible and clear, comparable and coherent.

The quality system is illustrated with a house below

The content of the figure is described in the text under the figure.

 

The quality system is intended to ensure the quality of official statistics and consists of the following main elements:

Quality requirements for official statistics:

The national programme for official Statistics (the statistical programme) defines what constitutes official statistics.

Methods and tools for assessing and measuring the quality of official statistics:

  • Quality evaluation
  • Register quality – quality of administrative data sources
  • European quality assessment – ESS Peer Review
  • Quality reviews of individual statistics
  • Quality indicators
  • Contact with users

Arenas and processes for quality follow-up:

National Programme for Official Statistics

The National programme sets the framework for the areas Statistics Norway and other public authorities produce statistics on. The programme defines and outlines official statistics.

The Committee for Official Statistics aims to coordinate the Norwegian official statistics. The Committee, appointed by the Ministry of Finance, consists of public authorities that produce statistics and owners of large administrative information systems.

Quality Evaluation

Recommendations and measures in the quality report are based on evaluations of all authorities producing official statistics. Each producer completes a self-assessment questionnaire based on the Code of Practice, followed by an interview.

European quality assessment – ESS Peer Review

European statistics should be of high quality and continuously improve. To ensure this, assessments of all statistical offices in Europe are required. This is called ESS Peer Review. For Norway, Peer revies were conducted in 2008, 2014, and 2021.

You can read the report from the Peer review in 2021, as well as Statistics Norway’s action plan following the Peer Review and more about Peer Reviews on Eurostat's website.

Peer Reviews is based on the Code of Practice and aims to improve the quality of official statistics.

To conduct a Peer review, a quality team, organised by Eurostat, gains insight into statistical production through document reviews and self-assessments. In 2021 the team discussed with Statistics Norway, other producers of European statistics, the media, and other users of official statistics. Four other national authorities who report to Eurostat where reviewed: the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries (DoF), the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) and the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO).

Quote from the Peer Review report: “Overall, the Peer Review team considers that the Norwegian statistical system demonstrates a strong commitment to the European Statistics Code of Practice (ES CoP) and that progress since the last peer review has been significant. Hence, the peer review team encouraged Statistics Norway and the other national authorities developing, producing and disseminating official statistics to continue the good work and presented recommendations that could allow them to improve beyond compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice.”

Quality Reviews

Quality reviews are a systematic method to enhance the quality of an individual statistic. A quality team reviews the production process with staff responsible for the statistics. The review includes self-assessments based on the Code of Practice and description of the production process based on the UN's "Generic Statistical Business Process Model, GSBPM" (open PDF from unece.org), and description of the data quality based on the Total Error model (open onlinelibrary.wiley.com). The dissemination of the statistics is also reviewed, including a focus group consisting of user representatives. The review results in recommendations for improvements and an action plan.

Quality in Administrative Information Systems

The production of official statistics involves extensive use of data from various administrative information systems owned by other authorities. The collaboration between Statistics Norway and the owners of these systems is standardised and formalised through agreements. These agreements regulate requests for data deliveries, frequency of management-level meetings, and structured feedback from Statistics Norway to the system owners. The shared goal is to improve the quality of administrative information systems.

User Orientation

Producers of official statistics interact with their users both when publishing new figures and through other inquiries about the statistics from user groups, such as media, students, and other public authorities. Some statistics have formalised user contact by establishing certain user groups. Additionally, user satisfaction surveys are conducted.

Training and network

Statistics Norway organises courses and seminars on quality work available to other producers of official statistics. Participation in the European Statistical Training Programme (ESTP) also contributes to competence and quality in official statistics.

Committees and Forums at Statistics Norway

Statistics Norway has internal forums and committees to ensure shared understanding and practices. Their principles are shared with other producers.

  • The Standards Committee acts as a driving force and coordinator for both the harmonisation of existing code lists and variables, and the development of new, shared functionalities/services associated with these.

  • The Confidentiality Committee shall develop general and practical guidelines for how Statistics Norway interprets the provisions of the Statistics Act regarding confidentiality in published statistics.

Development of the Quality Assurance System for Official Statistics

The quality system evolves over time to adapt to technological and societal changes. Statistics Norway is undergoing major modernisation, including a transition to a cloud-based data platform (Dapla). This requires rewriting production solutions and adapting to new technologies. Established tools like quality reviews and evaluations will help assess the impact of modernisation.

Quality Indicators in Statistics Norway’s Annual Report

In Statistics Norway’s annual report on its own statistics, quality indicators such as timeliness, response rate, and response burden are presented, as required by the Ministry of Finance. The annual report is available in Norwegian only.