John Bruton
Question:1 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach when the NESC study on the development of a set of indicators to benchmark progress in relation to Partnership 2000 will be completed. [4697/98]
Ceisteanna — Questions. - NESC Study.
Partnership 2000 states that the development of national level partnership will involve "the NESC in consultation with the relevant Government Departments, benchmarking Irish progress in the areas covered in the Partnership, both over time and by comparison with other countries." The NESC is concentrating on the identification of indicators and associated data to monitor progress over the course of the programme and locate Ireland relative to its EU and OECD partners. The work is based on the premise that social inclusion, competitiveness and employment are inextricably linked and that progress on all three should be measured.
The first stage in this process is the development of a set of indicators to benchmark the elements included in each chapter of the programme. This stage will be discussed by the council at its next meeting in April and I expect a report from it later this year.
When will the report be published?
It will be published later in the year. It will be discussed by the council and when it completes its work — it may not complete it all at its April meeting — it will be published soon after. However, the competitiveness council report will be published shortly. Most of the issues that infringe on benchmarking are also relevant to the competitiveness report.
Will the benchmark report simply identify the benchmarks it will use for subsequent reports to measure progress or will the first report to be published at the end of the year give an indication as to how Partnership 2000 is working in accordance with the benchmarks it is suggesting?
The intention is that it will give its view on how it works in the Department of the Taoiseach and the NESC in terms of monitoring. Under the current system the Department monitors on a quarterly basis while the council will look at it in a more detailed way, but its benchmarking will also examine how the partnership programme is working in the context of the Irish economy vis-a -vis what is happening elsewhere in Europe and the world.
Who will collect the statistics to verify whether Ireland is doing well in accordance with the chosen benchmarks?
The ongoing analysis and work is being carried out by the NESC.
The council is not a statistical organisation; it is a policy organisation which does not collect statistics and must get statistics from somewhere else. Who will originate the statistics?
It will use available statistics and the council will analyse the position. It will report without interference by using figures and data from the quarterly surveys presented by officials in my Department. It will independently give its observations on what is happening.
Does the Taoiseach agree there are a number of areas, such as abuse of children and homelessness, in respect of which the statistics either do not exist or are out of date and if the NESC relies only on existing statistical sources it may well not be able to benchmark the programme in the most relevant way? Is he willing to agree that new forms of statistics may need to be collected if we are to benchmark progress adequately? Has he received representations from the council indicating that particular issues — hitherto unquantified — should now be quantified so that this matter can be properly benchmarked?
These are some of the issues that will be discussed at the April meeting. The NESC, the House and myself want to operate with the best statistics available. The Deputy referred to a number of social exclusion issues and it was agreed under the terms of the partnership that the NESF will be carrying out analysis in those areas. It is the most appropriate pillar of the partnership programme for such analysis. In terms of trying to provide the best data, "yes" is the answer. I am prepared to assist in whatever way I can to make sure the best statistics are used.
One cannot analyse unless one has up to date statistics on a range of matters, such as house prices. We are currently using 1996 house price indicators and everyone knows there has been a huge change in house prices since then. Does the Taoiseach agree this benchmarking could amount to no more than looking out the back window of a bus rather than being in any way up to date in one's analysis because the statistics themselves must be up to date and comprehensive?
It is always appropriate to update statistics and we will continue to endeavour to do so but there has been a tremendous amount of progress in recent years in this area. In mid-January I received a delegation from the Department of the Environment and Local Government which presented a very good analytical report on the number, size, location and cost of houses built in 1997, as well as an analysis on what is happening in the new house sector in comparison to the second-hand sector by region. There has been a huge improvement in most areas. I agree it is not of much value to have statutory bodies sending out annual reports 18 months after the year has ended. I always raise this point and accept it happens. If annual reports are not published within six months of year end they should be filed in a wastepaper basket. We have improved the figures in many areas of social partnership, but they are still not satisfactory. There is always room for improvement.