News 23 Mar 2022
Good feedback to Statistics Finland from the peer review
The review team of the European Statistical System is satisfied with the activities of Finland's national statistical service. Eurostat has today published the results of the peer review of Statistics Finland and other producers of statistics.
According to the Peer Review Report, the peer review group regarded the legislation on statistics as comprehensive and considered it to safeguard the independence of the national statistical service. The review team welcomed the fact that data architecture and phenomenon basis have been advanced well. Statistics Finland's phenomenon-based communication received praise from the group. The report had no remarks regarding compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice.
The report contains 14 improvement actions, some of which concern Statistics Finland and some other producers of statistics participating in the review. The report wished for stronger coordination of cooperation within the national statistical service. In connection with this, the review team proposed a common release calendar for producers of statistics.
The review team regarded it important that the needs of statistics are considered earlier than at present when developing administrative data.
Increasing customer orientation was identified as one target of improvement. Customer needs should be heard when drafting the Statistical Programme.
Code of Practice ensures reliability of statistics
The quality of Official Statistics of Finland are based on the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics approved by the United Nations Statistical Commission and on the European Statistics Code of Practice. The European Statistics Code of Practice is used to define the independence of statistics production and the quality of processes and data to be published.
“The European Statistics Code of Practice guides the producers of official statistics in Europe. The Code of Practice ensures the reliability of statistics and can be used to compare development in different countries. Comparable statistics are also needed for defining EU subsidies,” says Statistics Finland's Quality Manager Outi Ahti-Miettinen.
Compliance with the Code of Practice in the production of statistics is regularly evaluated in European countries. An extensive round of peer reviews is undergoing in 2021 to 2023. This peer review is the third one and during it both Eurostat and all national statistical systems are evaluated.
The peer review includes self-assessment, a review visit, a review report and improvement actions based on it. They ensure that all countries do what has been agreed on: adhere to the common Code of Practice and the principles of statistics.
Eurostat has set up a review group for each country. The evaluators include a person representing the top management of another EU Member State, an expert, an external auditor and a representative of Eurostat.
A review visit of Finland’s national statistical service was conducted in November 2021. Besides Statistics Finland, the statistics production of the Natural Resources Institute Finland, Finnish Customs, National Institute for Health and Welfare, and Finnish Immigration Service was also reviewed.
In May, Statistics Finland will return its proposal for improvement actions to Eurostat based on the recommendations of the peer review. Eurostat will accept the actions and publish them in June.
Further information: Quality Manager Outi Ahti-Miettinen, tel. +358 29 551 2274
Peer Review Report on Eurostat's website (pdf)