1. 1 1 Independence and equal treatment policy in Statistics Norway Principles, realities and challenges Fride Eeg-Henriksen, senior adviser, Department of communications

2. 2 Independence and equal treatment Strict equal treatment policy No users access before anybody else Fixed dates - preannounced

3. Figures for planning of public finances- exception I 3

4. Owners of administrative data exception II 4

5. User- financed- voluntary surveys exception III 5

6. European Code of Practice- Peer review on the implementation in Statistics Norway - 2007 All users treated equitably- «Largely met» Dissemination policy document at www.ssb.no www.ssb.no But: Make exceptions more visible ;-) 6

7. 7 Updating ”About the statistics”- a challenging job

8. 8 Preparing for a review in 2014 Revised Code of Practice 2011 –Strengthening requirements about independence Self- initiated internal review 2011-2012 –18 different statistics –16 «About the statistics» not updated –«Unknown» exceptions to the surface More thorough review in 2014

9. 9 Why so demanding? 400 different statistics No overview of exceptions Production and dissemination first Documentation low priority –Especially when workload is high.. –Dissemination policy not high concern outside the Communications department –Authority of the Communications department

10. 10 What is to be done now? Update in due time before next peer review The exceptions –Overview, procedure to cover all of them –Restructure «About the statistics» –Standardized texts in «About the statistics» Staff, co-operation and division of labour –Communications –Metadata –Quality –Agency lawyer –Subject matter units

11. 11 Media policy to be made more visible Revised dissemination policy document Equal treatment of media and importance of independence Active media strategy- after release/publication