Data Sharing Agreement for Population and Migration Statistics between Social Security Department and Statistics Unit

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A decision made 20 December 2013:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2013-0136
Decision Summary Title	Data sharing between Social Security Department and the Statistics Unit		Date of Decision Summary:
Decision Summary Author:	Head of Governance, Social Security Department		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title	Data sharing agreement between Social Security Department and the Statistics Unit		Date of Written Report:	19th December 2013
Written Report Author:	Chief Statistician		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Signing of a data sharing agreement between Social Security Department and the Statistics Unit
Decision(s): Following discussions with the Chief Minister, the Minister for Social Security approved a data sharing agreement between the Social Security Department and the Statistics Unit for the exchange of information required to produce population and migration statistics.
Reason(s) for Decision: MD-C-2013-0129 approved the forwarding of law drafting instructions to amend the Census (Jersey) Law 1951 to allow a defined and limited amount of departmental administrative data to be shared with the Statistics Unit to enable an electronic approach to the population census to be undertaken based on administrative data sources, in addition to the traditional questionnaire-based census approach. The attached data sharing agreement defines limited data sharing between the Statistics Unit and the Social Security department to enable the Statistics Unit to progress the development of the methodology in using departmental administrative data in order to establish the size, structure and migration dynamics of the resident population.
Resource Implications: Financial: there are no financial implications Manpower: there are no manpower implications
Action required: The Minister for Social Security to sign a Data Sharing Agreement with the Chief Minister in respect of the restricted sharing of relevant information.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Social Security
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Data Sharing Agreement for Population and Migration Statistics between Social Security Department and Statistics Unit

Data Sharing Agreement

Between

The Statistics Unit

and

The Social Security Department

in respect of

the sharing of information for statistical purposes

Parties to the agreement:

The States of Jersey Statistics Unit

Cyril Le Marquand House

PO Box 140

The Parade, St. Helier

JE4 8QT

The States of Jersey Social Security Department.

Social Security Department

P O Box 55

Philip Le Feuvre House

La Motte Street

St Helier JE4 8PE

Aim of this agreement

The aim of the agreement is to enable the Statistics Unit to develop and implement a methodology for census‑taking using electronic administrative data held by government departments for the purpose of accurately and regularly measuring Jersey’s population size, characteristics and migration dynamics.

It also ensures such data sharing will be carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005, specifically Schedule 2, paragraphs 5(c) and 6 for the sole purpose of gathering statistical information, which may be used for future policy decision-making.

The Statistics Unit

The Statistics Unit currently produce an Annual Population Estimate report giving total population size and basic migration information each year based on aggregated data from government departments. The Statistics Unit has also run decennial censuses of residents giving full population size and characteristics at a point in time every ten years. A ‘census’ refers to collecting details about every person in a population and is crucial in providing the necessary information for planning, funding and delivering public services (including infrastructure, health, education, housing, benefits, pensions) for that population. Census level data feeds into calculations which project potential future size and structure of the population. The census results are also available to, and highly valued by, commercial and community organisations.

In order to improve the efficiency, quality and timeliness of official population and migration statistics the Statistics Unit is looking to develop and implement a methodology for census taking that uses electronic administrative data already held by government departments.

Responsible persons

The data will only be shared between nominated persons of either party.

For The Statistics Unit:

Chief Statistician - Duncan Gibaut

Statistician - Sarah Davis

Statistician - Kim Guegan

For The Social Security Department:

Policy and Strategy Director - Sue Duhamel

Policy Senior Information Analyst - Craig Honey

Information Analyst – Bob Pallot

Legislative basis

The Census Law (Jersey 1951) allows for the taking of a census. Under Article 2 of the Census Law (Jersey) 1951 the States of Jersey has “Power to make Regulations directing the taking of a census and prescribing procedure in relation thereto”.

Under Section 4.2.1 of P70/2002/ “Machinery of Government: Proposed departmental structure and transitional arrangements”, the Chief Minister’s Department was assigned responsibility for “Jersey’s statistics (including responsibility for the Census)”.

Traditionally in Jersey and other jurisdictions, censuses have been conducted through paper-based questionnaires being completed by every household. The regulation-making powers currently outlined in the Census (Jersey) Law 1951 are specific to this approach – for example the Census (Jersey) Regulations 2010 specified for the 2011 Census the contents of the Census questionnaire form to be completed by householders.

An alternative approach to census-taking, used by 12 European countries for the 2010 round of censuses and being considered for the next UK census, is to make use of government administrative data, held in electronic form, to supplement and potentially replace information obtained through questionnaires. Such an approach has many advantages, including:

Highly increased cost effectiveness
Increased frequency of population and migration statistics
Ability to direct resource to hard-to-capture information to maintain and where possible improve data coverage and quality.

Ministerial Decision (MD-C-2013-0129) approved the forwarding of law drafting instructions to the Law Draftsman for amendment to the Census (Jersey) Law 1951 to allow a defined and limited amount of departmental administrative data to be shared with the Statistics Unit to enable an electronic approach to the population census to be undertaken based on administrative data sources, in addition to the traditional questionnaire-based census approach.

The purpose of this data agreement is to progress work on developing the methodology in advance of the amendments to the census legislation, in order to begin producing improved population and migration statistics.

Compliance with Data Protection legislation

The Statistics Unit will process all personal data in accordance with the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005. The data will be used alongside data received from other sources to identify the current resident population of Jersey, and report the characteristics of this population in de-personalised form at an aggregate level in order to inform policy and government resourcing decisions. Article 33 of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005 provides for the further processing of personal data only for research purposes not to be regarded as incompatible with the purposes for which they were obtained.

Given the public function of the Statistics Unit to produce population and migration statistics which underpin government administration planning and funding decisions (thereby being in the public interest), and that the rights and freedoms or legitimate interests of the data subjects are not prejudiced, the processing of information within the limits of this data sharing agreement will comply under paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

The purpose of such data sharing is for research and statistical purposes as described under Article 33 of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005. Specifically, the personal data will not be processed to support measures or decisions with respect to particular individuals. Any issues highlighted through data processing to do with data quality (coverage and/or accuracy) of the original data source at an individual (record) level, or individual or business compliance with legislation will not be fed back to the original data controllers by the Statistics Unit.

No sensitive personal data, as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005, will be processed as part of this agreement.

Security and retention of data

Personal data will not be processed (including disclosed) for any purposes other than those stated in this agreement or where the legislation permits and appropriate legal advice has been sought. Only authorised personnel from the Statistics Unit will have access to the data where it is required to fulfil their function.

Under the Fifth Principle of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005, personal data will not be kept any longer than necessary. The Statistics Unit will retain only such data as is required to produce statistical information on the population.

Transfer of Data

Data will be transferred quarterly to a secure file location set up by Social Security and accessible only to authorised persons in the Statistics Unit.

Access of data

The Social Security Department remains the original data controller for the data. The Statistics Unit will redirect any individual’s request for information to Social Security. For the purposes of Article 7 of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005, Article 33 will apply.

Information to be shared

The information to be shared will be limited to the minimum needed to identify Jersey residents and basic demographic characteristics of that population including age, gender, employment status, marital status, place of birth, nationality, length of residency and residential status.

Specific data to be provided by the Social Security department (and reasons associated with each field):

JY number (as the primary key)
First and Last names (to assist with duplicate detection, identifying data coverage and quality issues)
Date of birth (to provide population structure by age)
Gender (to provide population structure by gender)
Current address (to identify resident/non-resident records to report migration dynamics)
Date of most recent arrival (to assist with reporting population structure by length of residency)
Place of birth (to assist with reporting population structure by place of birth)[1]
Nationality (to assist with reporting population structure by nationality)
Class 1 Contributions paid in specified quarter (yes / no flag – to assist with reporting employ status of population, and as evidence of residency for individuals in previous quarter)
Class 2 Contribution paid in specified quarter (yes / no flag – to assist with reporting employ status of population, and as evidence of residency for individuals in previous quarter)

Any income support or long term care payment received in specified quarter (yes/no flag, no details of type of benefit needed – as evidence of residency in previous quarter)
Pension or benefit received in specified quarter (yes / no flag – providing supporting evidence of activity in previous quarter)

Registration card request made in specified quarter (evidence of residency in previous quarter)1
Residential status at end of specified quarter (to assist with reporting population structure by residential status)1
Date of death (to identify deaths)
Date of exit (to identify those who inform Soc Sec of leaving island and assist with reporting on migration dynamics)
Registered ASW in last week of specified quarter (yes/no flag – to assist with reporting employ status of population, and as evidence of residency for individuals in previous quarter)
Contribution credits received in specified quarter (yes/no flag – to assist with reporting employ status of population, and as evidence of residency for individuals in previous quarter)
Spouse/Civil partner JY (to assist with reporting marital status)

Only personal data (as defined by the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005) will be shared. The sharing of sensitive personal data, such as ethnicity or health data, forms no part of this agreement.

Review Arrangements

This agreement will be reviewed at least every 5 years.

In the event of legislation not being approved, this data agreement will lapse and all identifiable individual data received by the Statistics Unit under this agreement will be securely deleted.

Approved By: Chief Minister Senator Ian Gorst

……………………………… Date:………………………………………….

For the Statistics Unit

Approved By: Minister Senator Francis Le Gresley

……………………………….

For the Social Security Department Date: …………………………………………

Author S Davis (GOV399) Page 1

[1] Social security act as an agent for collecting data on place of birth and residential status on behalf of the Population Office under the Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012. The Control of Housing and Work (Jersey) Law 2012 allows for sharing of this data with the Statistics Unit.