Scottish economy statistics: quality assurance

Relevance is the degree to which statistical outputs meet current and potential users needs. It depends on whether all the statistics that are needed are produced and the extent to which concepts used (definitions, classifications etc.,) reflect user needs.

The seven statistical outputs produced by OCEA-Macroeconomic Statisticians (Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland, Input-Output Tables and Multipliers, Gross Domestic Product, Index of Manufactured Exports, Global Connections Survey, Retail Sales Index for Scotland, and the Scottish National Account Project) are all highly relevant to the Scottish Government who need to understand the economic and fiscal position of the country in order to govern properly.

These seven outputs are all linked in many ways. The most essential output - the short term GDP measure - is dependent on good quality weights from the Input Output system and Retails Sales information from RSIS. The Input-Output system uses data from the GCS and GERS, which is part of the SNAP system. All products, as they are related to the measurement of economic growth, are therefore relevant to the Scottish Government's main purpose, to focus the Government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable growth.

Meeting user needs is a key element in the annual planning process. Registered users are invited to comment on the yearly plans, but in practice, OCEA receive little direct feedback. The Scottish Economic Statistics Consultants Group, a Committee under the ScotStat umbrella, meets to discuss planning arrangements for the production of economic statistics in Scotland and offers advice on methodological issues. The membership comes from academia, the business sector, central and local government and also includes experts from the Office for National Statistics (on an ad-hoc basis). The Group represents key users of economic statistics in Scotland and its members generally have a very high media profile. Further details of the consultation and planning process may be found on the ScotStat main page.