European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Satisfying User and Partner Needs- the Use of Specific Reviews at Eurostat Claudia Junker, Colin Stewart, Inna Steinbuka, Alexandre Makaronidis - Eurostat, Luxembourg

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July HICPs – Comparable Measure of Inflation HICP (Harmonized Indices of Consumer Prices) provide comparable measures of inflation in the Euro area, EU, EEA and beyond It is a key economic indicator at European and national level Maintaining and enhancing the credibility of the HICP is of utmost importance as is striving for further improvements

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Objective of the 2007 HICP user and partner review The exercise includes a thorough review of user satisfaction and partner (National Statistical Institutes - NSIs) satisfaction and opinions. The results of these surveys are evaluated with a view to identifying possible ways of improving the functioning of the statistical area under review and to suggesting improvement actions in this context.

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Background to this review This type of review focused on procedures, user and partner perspectives - and processes and their improvement. Approach consistent with paper “User Satisfaction Surveys in Eurostat and in the European Statistical System” Partners’ (NSIs) questionnaire was used for collecting their opinions on the organisation and functioning of the European Statistical System (ESS) in the field of HICP data production. NSIs’ suggestions for ways in which ESS coordination in this field might be improved were sought. Users’ questionnaire focused more on their opinions on the quality of data and services in the area of HICP that they observed during the previous 12 months or so.

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Background – NSIs, Users and Journalists A comprehensive questionnaire was sent out on 21 February 2007 to the NSIs in a total of 33 countries. In total 30 NSIs replied A total of 19 users replied (from about 80 contacted directly and via the HICP website) to a satisfaction questionnaire In total 3 journalists replied to a satisfaction questionnaire out of a total of 30 news agencies contacted

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Summary of findings On the functioning of the ESS, NSIs were generally positive. NSIs viewed planning and coordination as useful though priorities were not always taken up by Eurostat with too many topics are being dealt with at once Most NSIs assessed the quality of data as good or excellent for all the dimensions of quality. Only a few exceptions Most Users (and the few journalists who replied) also assessed the quality of data as good or excellent for all the dimensions of quality. Only a few exceptions

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Recommendations Recommendations were split into two sections: Recommendations to be implemented at Eurostat level Recommendations to be implemented at HICP unit level

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Recommendations for implementation at Eurostat level To lighten and improve (deadlines, information) the administrative procedures for grants To further improve coordination with other institutions such as ECB and OECD To improve coordination between statistical areas inside Eurostat

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Recommendations for implementation at HICP unit level (strategic) to focus the HICP strategy or other work programmes on fewer issues and pursue them to the end before starting new initiatives (or limit number of initiatives to a manageable level). to consider providing more fora / time for discussion with the partners to ensure that HICP Working Group (WG) members' opinions are fully taken into account in the decision-making processes to ensure consistent and concrete follow-up of WG and Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) outputs as well as follow-up to specific queries from Member States

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Recommendations for implementation at HICP unit level (operational) to provide more details already at the time of publishing the flash HICP to investigate whether accessibility, coherence and completeness of HICP data could be improved. to provide more information on best practices in the Member States / more detailed information on national methodologies to improve exchange of information (and to learn from each other) to provide more documentation and recommendations on other best practices concerning specific areas of work, e.g. concerning sampling and owner-occupied housing to take steps to better ensure consistency of treatment of member states by Eurostat on operational matters.

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Recommendations for implementation at HICP unit level (operational) to provide more information to NSIs on the evaluation of results from projects and programmes to make available regularly updated contact information on Eurostat HICP staff. to investigate the improved use of the standard data transmission tools

European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics, Rome 8-11 July Implementation and follow up The list of recommendations was presented to the HICP Working Group (WG) and discussed An action plan was then drawn up and presented to the WG As most recommendations refer to a change or improvement in working practice rather than a new initiative, much of the implementation will be “ongoing” The substantial increase in HICP staff resources in 2006/7 was felt, by Eurostat, to have subsequently addressed some of the issues raised. Eurostat will provide an update to the WG on what actions will be taken forward and when A further survey will be carried out in future and the results compared to this exercise