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3rd Administrative Statistics Seminar – 20 February 2014

Seminar Programme
Seminar Proceedings
Presentations

The Central Statistics Office makes extensive use of administrative and other data to broaden the range, scope and depth of analysis that it can provide to support evidence based policy making while at the same time minimise the burden to respondents.

This seminar will highlight some on-going work within CSO with regard to using administrative data and will also showcase some creative non-CSO case studies, which illustrate how publically available datasets can be used to generate information.  This is an ideal opportunity to learn about some the opportunities and challenges that face official statistics, both in Ireland and internationally.

The seminar also offers a great chance to meet many of the CSO statisticians, who will be happy to answer any questions you might have or discuss what data are available to best suit your needs.

The seminar will be of interest to:

  • Firms and their representative organizations;
  • Government officials;
  • Academics and students;
  • Anyone with a particular interest in agriculture, business, education, crime or with a general interest in the compilation of information from administrative or internet sources.

Venue: Dublin Castle, Bedford Hall, Dublin 2
Time: 13.30
Date: February 20, 2014

To Register: Email: DGOffice@cso.ie
or
Contact: Fionnuala Murray 021 – 453 5495

Seminar Programme

1.30 Registration

1.50 Opening remarks – John Dunne, CSO

2.00 School Completers and Early Leavers: What Next? Nicola Tickner, Dept. Education and Skills

2.20 Where do FETAC learners go? Rhona Dempsey, Quality and Qualifications Ireland

2.40 Spatial micro simulation using the POWSCAR 2011 dataset Gillian Golden, Dept. Education and Skills

3.00 Break

3.30 Compiling Live Register Flows Catalina Gonzalez, CSO

3.50 Integrating Administrative Data in Health Studies: A case study Martin Kenneally & Brenda Lynch, Centre for Policy Studies, UCC

4.10 Developing a Statistical Persons Register John Dunne & Bernie Dunne, CSO

4.30 Discussion and closing remarks

3rd Administrative Data Seminar

Dublin, 20 February, 2014

Bedford Hall, Dublin Castle

Summary of Proceedings

The 3rd Administrative Data Seminar was hosted by CSO on February 20, 2014 in Bedford Hall, Dublin Castle. 

In line with the previous seminars, the underlying theme was how to reuse or link existing administrative data or public sector information together or combine them with other statistics to produce useful and informative analyses.  This seminar showcased some examples of how the CSO and other Government Departments, agencies and academic institutions are making progress towards these goals. 

The seminar programme was:

  • Opening remarks – John Dunne, CSO
  • ‘School Completers and Early Leavers: What Next?’ - Nicola Tickner, Dept. Education and Skills
  • ‘Where do FETAC learners go?’ - Rhona Dempsey, Quality and Qualifications Ireland
  • ‘Spatial micro simulation using the POWSCAR 2011 dataset’ - Gillian Golden, Dept. Education and Skills
  • ‘Compiling Live Register Flows’ - Catalina Gonzalez, CSO
  • ‘Integrating Administrative Data in Health Studies: A case study’ - Martin Kenneally & Brenda Lynch, Centre for Policy Studies, UCC
  • ‘Developing a Statistical Persons Register’ - John Dunne & Bernie Dunne, CSO  
  • Discussion and closing remarks

John Dunne, Head of the Administrative Data Centre in CSO, set out the background and context to the seminar in his opening remarks and chaired the session thereafter.  The combination of CSO and guest speakers, peppered with some challenging questions made for a stimulating and varied afternoon.

The first section of the seminar centred on education.   Nicola Ticker (Dept. of Education and Skills) illustrated how, by linking different administrative datasets, valuable insights into what happens to school leavers can be gleaned.  This was followed by Rhona Dempsey (QQI) who presented a similar analysis of FETAC graduates.  Both speakers highlighted the need for a national data infrastructure to facilitate further analyses.  Both speakers noted that the individual administrative datasets were linked by Bernie Dunne of CSO and they used anonymised research files.  Gillian Golden (Dept. of Education and Skills) illustrated how POWSAR data derived from the Census of Population can be combined with administrative data to inform difficult policy questions and optimise decisions. 

In the second section Catalina Gonzalez presented some ongoing development work in CSO, analysing DSP claimant information to examine spatial and seasonal patterns.  This was followed by Martin Kenneally and Brenda Lynch (Centre for Policy Studies, University College Cork) who showed how composite national and regional Health Indices can be compiled by combining official statistics and other public sector files.  This presentation included some challenging recommendations regarding the management and dissemination of administrative data in Ireland.  The last presentation of the day was presented by John Dunne (CSO) who showcased a CSO development project to build a ‘Person Activity Register’ which in time, it is hoped, will play a central role in the compilation of social and demographic statistics.

Two papers were also circulated to all guests:

  • National Statistics Board (2012), ‘The Irish Statistical System: The way forward & Joined up government needs joined up data’, Dublin: National Statistics Board. www.nsb.ie
  • MacFeely, S. and J. Dunne (2014), ‘Joining up public service information: The rationale for a national data infrastructure’, Administration, vol.61, no.4 (2014), pp.93 – 107. www.ipa.ie

93 people attended the seminar, representing a broad range of data users and suppliers from academia, government departments and agencies. 

Proceedings Image 

Presentations