Jersey Statistics Legislation Steering Group
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Purpose
The Statistics Legislation Steering Group (“the Group”) has been established by the Chief Minister to oversee the development of new policy and legislation to enhance and improve Jersey’s national statistics system (NSS).
Guiding Principles
The development of new policy and legislation will be guided by the principles below, subject to any future changes which may be necessitated by amendments to the Group’s vision statement.
1. Objective of the Group
The objective of the Group will be to establish the appropriate legal framework and consider an appropriate regulatory framework for Jersey’s NSS, including the development, integrity, relevance, quality, production and dissemination of official statistics, in accordance with the United Nations Generic Law on Official Statistics (GLOS).[1]
2. International best practice standards
New policy and legislation will ensure that Jersey’s NSS meets the requirements of the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FPOS) with reference to the 2021 UN Handbook on Management and Organisation of National Statistical Systems (UN Handbook) and draw on examples of best practice from other jurisdictions, including small jurisdictions of comparable complexity or size to Jersey.
3. Definition of official statistics
Jersey statistical legislation will be amended to reflect the GLOS definition of official statistics. This will also clarify that official statistics may be produced by any public authority as defined under Article 1 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 and not solely Statistics Jersey.
Article 1.2 of the GLOS “1.2 Official statistics in the context of the present Law: a) Are statistics describing on a representative basis the economic, demographic, social and environmental phenomena of [country name]; b) Shall be developed, produced and disseminated in compliance with the provisions of the present Law, the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (A/RES/68/261) [and the European statistics Code of Practice/National Code of Practice] as well as internationally agreed statistical standards and recommendations; c) Shall be referred to as official statistics in the statistical programmes. |
Amendments will also set out a mechanism to identify key official statistics and to ensure adequate resource and the safeguarding of professional independence for the producers of those key official statistics.
4. Independence
New legislation will strengthen and safeguard the professional independence of Statistics Jersey and the Chief Statistician. Opportunities will be explored to further enhance that professional independence in legislation, including:
a) the Chief Statistician’s authority to take professional decisions without any kind of interference;
b) an appropriate administrative structure for Statistics Jersey, in accordance with international best practice standards, which safeguards professional independence whilst ensuring appropriate oversight, good governance, effective interaction with the Government of Jersey and other users of statistics;
c) sufficient resourcing for Statistics Jersey and independent discretion to manage budget use;
d) an appropriate process to enable Statistics Jersey to plan its budget to meet the needs of the users of official statistics, to align its output with the Government of Jersey’s strategic priorities and to fulfil its responsibilities to produce key official statistics;
e) protections to allow the producers of official statistics to provide public comment, free from political and government interference;
f) provisions governing a transparent selection, appointment and dismissal procedure for the Chief Statistician that is based on merit and professional criteria only;
g) provisions to ensure scientific standards and use of internationally agreed statistical standards and methodologies.
Professional independence will be defined with reference to the United Nation’s FPOS and the UN Handbook. All producers of official statistics must be able to act freely, in accordance with these principles.
Legislation will also continue to make provision for the independence of a body to provide appropriate oversight and strong representation for the users of statistics (currently the Statistics Users Group - SUG) and ensure this body has the requisite functions, resources and powers to fulfil its role, consistent with the principles set out in the United Nations Guidance on Modernising Statistical Legislation (the “UN Guidance”).[2]
5. Statistical standards
Legislation will define Jersey’s NSS, establishing the obligations, standards and rights for those statistical entities and series that are part of the system, as well as providing for the regulation of the quality, relevance and integrity of official statistics. This will include clarifying the roles, resourcing and functions of the SUG under the legislation.
6. Administrative data
Provisions will ensure that the Chief Statistician and Statistics Jersey have appropriate powers to access and to use administrative data from all public authorities for statistical research purposes.
The utility of current provisions in the Statistics and Census (Jersey) Law 2018 which provide data sharing powers will be reviewed and amendments will be made to improve the effectiveness of the legislation, if it is deemed necessary, following the review.
The collation of data by public authorities and the management of that data in the process of developing official statistics will also be assessed as part of this process. The Group will further consider legislative amendments which accord with the principles of open data.
7. Other legislation
The Group will assess where current or future statistics legislation interacts or has the potential to interact with other laws. Any actual or potential conflicts between different pieces of legislation will be addressed.
Approach
The development of policy and legislation will be approached in accordance with the following criteria.
1. UN Guidance on Modernising Statistical Legislation
New statistics legislation will be developed in accordance with the United Nations Guidance on Modernising Statistical Legislation (UNECE Guidance) with reference to the UN Handbook, following the process set out in these documents, as far as practicable given the timescales provided below.
2. Delivery schedule
The policy development process will be conducted in accordance with the timetable set out below.
Projected Timetable – Policy Development Process Only |
February to April 2021 | Commence a consultation with stakeholders, including SUG, the Interim Director of Statistics and Analysis, Statistics Jersey and other producers of government statistics and key users of official statistics. The scope and form of the consultation will be agreed by the Group. |
May 2021 | Provide a policy position paper to the Council of Ministers, and share pro-actively with Scrutiny |
June 2021 | Develop law drafting instructions |
July to August 2021 | Consult on law drafting instructions with key stakeholders |
September 2021 | Request Ministerial Decision from the Chief Minister to issue law drafting instructions to the Legislative Drafting Office |
Membership
Name | Role |
Deputy Kirsten Morel | Chair of the Group, Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture |
Senator Tracey Vallois | States Member |
Gailina Liew | Chair of the Statistics Users Group |
Ian Cope | Interim Director of Statistics and Analytics; Chief Statistician |
Sarah Davis | Principal Statistician, Deputy Chief Statistician, Statistics Jersey |
Matthew Berry | Senior Legal Adviser, Law Officers’ Department |
Natalie Addis | Assistant Legal Adviser, Law Officers’ Department |
Francis Walker | Senior Policy Officer, SPPP |
The core membership of the Group will be supplemented by other members as and when the Chair believes their presence at a meeting or involvement in a particular matter will be of assistance.
Responsibilities
The Chair is responsible for oversight and management of the Group. The Chair will assign work arising from the Group to an appropriate officer. Any work which is assigned to members of the Group or which a member of the Group agrees to undertake must be delivered in accordance with the agreed timetable, set out above.
The Group is responsible for agreeing a final policy position paper and recommending law drafting instructions on statistical legislation. The Group has oversight of the policy development process – members of the Group will provide input throughout. The Group will ensure that policy is being delivered in accordance with these Terms of Reference.
The Senior Policy Officer will progress the development of policy and legislation on a day to day basis.
The Interim Director of Statistics and Analytics will provide expert subject advice to the Senior Policy Officer and to the Group.
The Chair of the SUG will represent the views of the SUG.
The Chair is responsible for presenting the Group’s findings to the Chief Minister and for approving the publication and dissemination of documents relating to the Group’s work.
Meetings
Meetings of the Group will ordinarily take place once every month. All members are expected to attend wherever possible. In the event of a member being unable to attend a meeting, the Chair must be provided with reasonable advance notice.
Meetings will generally take place by video conference. Responsibility for secretarial duties (the production of agendas, minutes and circulating relevant papers) will be performed by an officer in the Ministerial Support Unit. The agenda and any associated papers should be circulated no less than two full working days before each meeting.
Information Sharing
There should be a free flow of information relevant to the Group’s purpose between its members. It should be presumed that all documents shared between Group members are confidential during the policy development phase unless otherwise agreed. Freedom of Information principles and legislation will apply to all documents and correspondence.
The Chair of the SUG may disseminate information to members of the SUG on a confidential basis. The Chair of the SUG should inform the Chair of the Group before doing so.
The Chair may decide to release information to the public, following consultation with the Group.
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