1. The Hungarian Statistical System by Péter PUKLI President, HCSO 93rd DGINS Conference, Budapest 21 September 2007 21 September 2007

2. Overview ► History ► The National Statistical Service ► Key figures on HCSO ► Modernisation process

3. History of the HCSO I. Back to the 19th century – laying the fundaments ► 1848-49: The short period of independence there was an attempt to create national statistical service by Elek FÉNYES (1807-1876) ► 1867: Establishment of the independent Hungarian administration. Károly KELETI (1833-1892) was invited to lead the Statistical Department as a part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Industry ► 1871: The foundation of the National Statistical Office ► 1876: The third International Statistical Congress was held in Budapest

4. II. Statistics in the 20th century ► 1922: foundation of the Hungarian Statistical Society; ► 1952: 4th statistical law: the socialist statistical system; ► 1993: new statistical law: harmonization of the statistical system to ESS; ► 2002: Global Assessment of the Hungarian Statistical System confirmed that Hungary was able to fulfil the EU requirements.

5. I. Members I. Members ► Central Statistical Office; ► Ministries; ► Office of the National Council of Justice; ► Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor; ► National Bank; ► Office for Economic Competition; ► Financial Supervisory Authority. The National Statistical Service

6. II. Role of HCSO in the official statistics ► Compiles the draft „Annual National Data Collection Program” in cooperation with other members in official statistics; ► Submits it for opinion for the National Statistical Council; ► Submits the program to the government for admittance; ► The Program is published in official journals and on the website of HCSO; ► HCSO is monitoring the implementation.

7. III. The National Statistical Council Professional advisory body of the President of HCSO. Representatives of: ► members of the National Statistical Service; ► trade unions; ► trade associations; ► local governments; ► academic statistics. The members are nominated by the Prime Minister, on the proposal of the HCSO’s president.

8. IV. The National Statistical Data Collection Program ► It covers the surveys of the members of the National Statistical Service; ► The draft is submitted to the National Statistical Council for opinion; ► The proposal is sent to the government for admittance; ► The Program is put in force, as the set of compulsory surveys by Government decree.

9. Key figures of the Statistical Office ► 23 departments, 90 sections ► Annual budget: 46.6 millions euros ► Human resources: 1390 employees  75% female, 25% male  1000 statisticians, 390 for administrative and supporting activities  2600 interviewers on contract basis

10. Key figures of the Statistical Office ► 420 work programmes including 142 data collections and 80 administrative data sets ► 218 first releases in 27 topics, 118 publications ► 106 gigabyte information on the web ► 112thousand statistical tables downloaded from Dissemination Database

11. Social Services Statistics Department President Internal audit section Planning Department Financial Management Department Technical Department Administration and International Department IT Department Dissemination Department Business Statistics Department Living Standard and Labour Statistics Department Price Statistics Department Regional Directorate of Veszprém Regional Directorate of Szeged Regional Directorate of Pécs Regional Directorate of Miskolc Regional Directorate of Győr Regional Directorate of Debrecen Foreign Trade Statistics Department National Accounts Department Population Statistics Department Statistical Research and Methodology Department Sector Accounts Department Services Statistics Department Deputy President responsible for statistical issues Deputy President responsible for economic affairs National Statistical Council Agriculture and Environment Statistics Department

12. The modernisation process of the HCSO

13. I. Precedings Harmonisation of subject-matter areas. Screaning negotiations Audits of international experts from EU and Canada catalyzed a new approach to manage the developing work of the office. ► Peer Review by Ivan Fellegi and Jacob Ryten, October 2001; ► Global Assessment by Tim Holt and Jan Byfuglien, April 2002

14. The modernisation program: on the basis of the conclusions ► The Strategic Development Council (SDC) was formed; ► An overall strategic development plan for 2005–2008 was elaborated; ► The top management of the HCSO started to reengineer the office by wide range of reform steps.

15. II. Driving Forces ► Social awareness ► Governmental motivation ► Business motivation ► Development in IT

16. ► Social awareness  To strengthen public confidence we need to increase the transparency of our service.  Our professional independence lies on the transparency of our production process;  To assure equal access to our data for all users, from the government to the general public.  Internet creates environment of equal opportunity for them;  The burden on our respondents must be reduced. Driving Forces (1.)

17. ► Reform of the public administration ■ Regional centralisation of public services ■ Merger of institutions, cleaning profiles ■ New performance assessment methods Driving Forces (2.)

18. ► Business motivation: resources vs. demands ■ Continuous budget cuts; ■ The dissemination policy turns towards free of charge information service, resulting in a loss of revenues; ■ The resources provided in the EU-accession period have been reduced; ■ On the demand side new user-groups: European Commission and ECB; ■ The answer to the challenges is to increase the efficiency of our work. Driving Forces (3.)

19. ► Development in information technology ■ The fast development in IT has a great influence on the working environment of statisticians; ■ Information technology supports, even demands the integrated production process; ■ The Internet opens the world for statistics. The number of our users has multiplied. Driving Forces (4.)

20. III. The main fields of modernisation ► Modernisation of the legal framework ► Modernisation of management ► Modernisation of institution ► Modernisation of production

21. Main goals ► improve the operational efficiency ► increasethe level of our professional work ► improve the quality of our services ► improvethe transparency of our activity ► increase the prestige of the office ► reduce the burden of respondents

22. Modernisation of the legal framework ► Modifications in the Statistical Law ■ Revise the role and function of the National Statistical Council; ■ Direct reference to ESS Code of Practice principles; ■ Legal basis for easier access to administrative data; ■ To strengthen the coordinating and supervising position of the HCSO within the official statistics.

23. Modernisation of management ► A programme planning system and procedure has been introduced; ► Management Information System (integrated information from several sources) has been implemented; ► System for assessment of programmes (KPI-s), product and process quality monitoring is under construction.

24. Programme and resource planning „WHAT? FOR HOW MUCH?” System of process quality assurance „HOW?” Assessment of our OUTPUTS Performance assessment, cost/benefit assessment, product quality monitoring, self assessment, audits „WHAT RESULTS?” Analysis, co-ordination, feedback Management Information System MANAGEMENT CONTROLLING FRAMEWORK

25. Modernisation of the institution The structure of the office is 50 years old. ► Organisational centralisation; 19 county offices  6 regional offices; (20 legal units  1 legal unit); ► Supporting activities in one centre; ► Introduction of the integrated financial and budget management system.

26. Modernisation of production Strategic domains: ► Streamlining of the operations; ► Integrated IT tools; ► Quality assessment; ► Training (HCSO School).

27. Streamlining of the operations ► Changes in the division of labour along the value chains; ► The production units are responsible for input and through-put phases; ► The statistical units perform the survey design, macro operations and dissemination.

28. Integrated IT tools ► Standardized IT applications  To minimize the heterogeneity of applications used in the production  150 stove-pipes  3 or 4 stove-pipes ► Extension of electronic data collection methods and tools

29. Quality assessment ► Documentation of the production process. ► Quality standards/guidelines for the different process steps. ► Measurement of the process quality (process variables). ► Checklist for the fulfilment of the guidelines. ► Assessment of the performance based on these quality tools.

30. Quality assessment Activities Current activity Future activity Product quality project ► Internal standard quality indicators ► Internal standard quality reports ► Feedback talks ► Self assessment ► Internal and external audits Process quality project ► Quality guidelines ► Checklists ► Documentations ► Process variables ► Improvement, assessment, and feedback Framework ► Quality training ► Quality network – representatives of subject matter departments ► Promotion ► Code of practice ► Quality management system

31. ► The quality of our work is influenced by the statistical culture, knowledge and skill of the staff. ► This can be improved by TRAINING. ■ 25 courses are held in a year; ■ Subject matter courses, IT courses and management courses are in the program; ■ Tutors are usually experienced members of staff, sometimes external consultancy is used; ■ The programme uses 1% of annual human resources. HCSO School

32. The futureand its challenges The future and its challenges ► HCSO Strategy 2009–2012  2008 – the year of preparation ► Population and general agricultural censuses within 3 years ► Strenghtening international cooperation – active participation in collaborative networks

33. Thank you for your attention!