Development of quality management and its implementation in

Development of quality management and its implementation in the European Statistical System Q 2010 European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics Teodora Brandmüller Eurostat, Unit E 4 Regional Statistics and Geographic Information 05/2010 Helsinki

Experience … Eurostat Fact Institute n Luxembourg, Luxembourg n DG of the European Commission n Approx. 900 posts n Provide the EU high-quality statistical information service. n Pecs, Hungary n Private sector 05/2010 Helsinki n Staff: 5 persons n Provide high-quality analysis on economic, social trends to its customers.

Public and private Eurostat n 2001 ESS Quality Declaration n 2005 European Statistics Code of Practice 15 principles 05/2010 Helsinki Fact Institute n 2001 ISO 9001 certification n 2002 Regional Quality Award – (EFQM model) n Applying the ESOMAR Code of Marketing and Social Research Practice 14 articles Transparency Data protection and privacy Publishing findings Responsibility …

Recent development of the Quality concept n 1950 s, 1960 s it lead Japanese companies be prominent global economic players n Late 1970 s experimentation with quality circles in the western World n 1980 s TQM is credited with restoring US’s economic competitiveness n 1987 Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award n 1988 the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) was created n 1990 s growing focus on customer service, particularly in the service sector 05/2010 Helsinki

Recent development of the Quality concept in the public sector n 1980 s criticism about the way public organization functioned n 1990 s New Public Management (NPM) - considering beneficiaries of public services much like customers and conversely citizens as shareholders – Emphasis on the quality of public services n In 2000 Common Assessment Framework (CAF) was created inspired by the EFQM n Quality Conferences for European public administration n European Conference on Quality in Official Statistics 05/2010 Helsinki

A new understanding of quality n Good management that has been codified in quality management systems may not support innovation n Best-Practice necessarily are derived from the past and are a way of looking at the world in the rear-view mirror n Quality shall be characterized by the ability to identify weak signals at an early stage and to build up capacities and innovation readiness 05/2010 Helsinki

Quality as a dynamic concept n 13 th conference on Quality and Service Sciences (2010): Learn. Ability, Innov. Ability and Sustain. Ability n 5 th QC for Public Administration in the EU (2008): Imagine, Evaluate and Learn – Imagine giving up the security of your routines – Evaluate in order to assess the results of your innovations – Learn in order to make improvements sustainable 05/2010 Helsinki

Case study: Producing statistics at NUTS 3 regional level n There is an increased need to analyse in detail various areas of the EU territory n For a flexible territorial analysis, it would be very helpful to collect a wide range of economic and social indicators at NUTS level 3 – The sample size often does not allow for accurate and reliable figures per NUTS-3 regions – Introducing a new survey would be costly and increase the burden on respondents – Data could be confidential 05/2010 Helsinki

How can we meet this new policy requirement? n Imagine giving up the security of your routines n Evaluate in order to assess the results n Learn in order to make improvements n n Use the NUTS-3 data as building blocks Average regions with common characteristics “by space” Aggregate NUTS-3 areas to various geometries Create disclosure rules to guarantee confidentiality and reliability 05/2010 Helsinki

Instead of conclusions… n Are there clear boundaries between private and public sectors? Are they diminishing? n Are there lessons to learn from other actors of the public administration? Are there analogies within the public sector? n Which trade-offs are compliant with the Code of Practice? n Within the Statistical Institute: Is there a “silo syndrome” or “stove pipes”? Shall we struggle against these? 05/2010 Helsinki

Thank you for your attention! Teodora Brandmuller teodora. brandmueller@ec. europa. eu Eurostat Unit E 4 05/2010 Helsinki

05/2010 Helsinki Nae of the presentation