Official statistics ... are collected by government to inform debate, decision-making and research both within government and by the wider community. They provide an objective perspective of the changes taking place in national life and allow comparisons between periods of time and geographic areas.
Vital as this is, open access to official statistics provides the citizen with more than a picture of society. It offers a window on the work and performance of government itself, showing the scale of government activity in every area of public policy and allowing the impact of government policies and actions to be assessed.
Reliable social and economic statistics are fundamental … to open government. It is the responsibility of government to provide them and to maintain public confidence in them.
(Source: HMSO (1993). “White Paper on Open Government”, Cm.2290, HMSO, ISBN 010122902X)
For official statistics to be trusted and used by governments and the wider community, the statistics must be objective, relevant, equally and openly accessible and of a high quality. There are various dimensions around the term quality in relation to official statistics. These include the key characteristics of accuracy, timeliness, being fit for the intended usage, and produced in accordance with international statistical frameworks and best practice.
Within New Zealand, official statistics are defined in section 2 of the Statistics Act 1975 as:
statistics derived by Government Departments from:
- Statistical surveys as defined in this section; and
- Administrative and registration records and other forms and papers the statistical analyses of which are published regularly, or are planned to be published regularly, or could reasonably be published regularly.
Any government department may produce official statistics, but Statistics New Zealand produces many of them, particularly economic and population statistics. The principal official statistics not produced by Statistics New Zealand are those on education, health, crime, justice and welfare. These are produced by other government departments from surveys conducted by or for them, or from administrative records.
As well as being a key producer of official statistics, Statistics New Zealand takes a lead role in improving the overall effectiveness of New Zealand’s statistical environment, and is responsible for coordinating all New Zealand official statistics.
Part I of the Statistics Act 1975 covers all official statistics, whether produced by Statistics New Zealand or by other government departments. The Act provides for the Government Statistician to manage and coordinate survey activities so as to render most useful the official statistics produced, and also to avoid unnecessary duplication. Under the Act, the Government Statistician may also review the collection, compilation, analysis, abstraction, and publication of official statistics prepared by Statistics New Zealand or by other government departments.
Therefore, for New Zealand to have a system of official statistics that is strong and effective, all its
participants (ie producers and/or users) need to:
- produce and disseminate statistics to the standard expected of official statistics
- use them appropriately, and
- act for the well-being of the system.