- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish plans for the operation of the system for producing official national statistics in Scotland, following the Executive's indication to the UK government that it will participate in the new arrangements being put in place at UK level.
Answer
We will publish our plans forimproving statistical services in Scotland through a consultation paper to be published around thesame time as the Legislative Consent Motion (LCM) is lodged. The LCM should be lodgedin December 2006.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its proposal to participate in the arrangements provided for by the UK Statistics and Registration Services Bill is predicated on all statisticians currently working for the Executive continuing to work on this basis and not for a subsidiary of the UK non-departmental public body in Scotland.
Answer
Yes, all statisticianscurrently working for the Executive will continue to work on this basis underthe new UK arrangements.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether economic statistics, currently produced by it, will in future be produced by the proposed non-departmental public body for statistics.
Answer
No, economic statisticscurrently produced by the Executive will not transfer to the new non-ministerialdepartment.
The work of the Office forNational Statistics (ONS), which produces much of the underlying data forExecutive statistics on the economy, will transfer to the Statistics Board. Sothe new body will have a responsibility to supply the Executive with economicstatistics data in the same way that the ONS does now. However, this does notmean that economic statistics currently produced by the Executive will transferto the new body.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many statisticians employed by it work only on statistics that are published by the Office of National Statistics or classified as national statistics.
Answer
Statisticians employed by the Executive use a variety of data sources to provide information to the public andfor policy analysis. It is unlikely thatany will work only on statistics that arepublished by the Office for National Statistics or classified as national statistics.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will issue a public consultation on its proposal to participate in the new statistics arrangements being put in place at UK level and whether this will occur prior to a legislative consent motion being lodged in the Scottish Parliament.
Answer
A public consultation documentwill be published around the same time as the Legislative Consent Motion (LCM) islodged in the Scottish Parliament.
The consultation paper will includea range of proposals to improve statistical services in Scotland including,but not limited to, proposals that are best carried forward through the UK Statisticsand Registration Service Bill. Responses to the consultation will contribute toLCM discussions in Parliament and will shape the non-legislative proposals.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its proposal to participate in the arrangements to be provided for by the UK Statistics and Registration Services Bill is predicated on the UK non-departmental public body providing only oversight and advisory functions to Scottish-based statisticians.
Answer
The UK Statistics andRegistration Service Bill will give the new independent body a role in settingand monitoring the standards of Scottish statistics. It will help todemonstrate that Scottish statistics are produced to high standards and subjectto independent scrutiny.
This does not mean that thenew body will oversee Scottish Executive statisticians – it can only commentand give advice on the official statistics that they produce.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many statisticians employed by it will work for a new non-departmental public body responsible for statistics to be created under proposals for UK statistics and registration reform.
Answer
No statisticians employed bythe Executive will work for the new non-ministerial department.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many statisticians employed by it work on statistics published by the Office of National Statistics or classified as national statistics.
Answer
Statisticians work on a mix ofNational Statistics, administrative information, survey data and data collectedby other government bodies (such as Office for National Statistics (ONS)) for publicationsand to support government policy.
All statisticians employed bythe Scottish Executive will work on National Statistics products at some stage andmost will work on statistics published by the ONS.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made cost estimates for the establishment of a non-departmental public body in Scotland to work within the proposed new statistical system for the United Kingdom; whether any budget for such an organisation would be funded in Scotland outwith the spending review, and whether any funding needs resulting from the actions of the UK Government in relation to establishing a non-departmental public body in Scotland relating to the production of statistics will be met by the UK Government.
Answer
We do not consider that creatinga new public body for the production of statistics in Scotland is necessary.Therefore, we have not considered any specific fundingor budget issues. We envisage that the UK Government will meet all the costs of the Statistics Board proposed in the Statistics and Registration Service Bill.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in proposing to participate in the new statistical arrangements being put in place at UK level, it has any plans to change the position or employment of statisticians currently working in its departments.
Answer
No. The organisational changesproposed in the Statistics and Registration Service Bill will not affect the employmentof Scottish Executive statisticians.
