The Scottish Government

Review of Non-Statutory Quantitative Data Requirements of Local Government and Public Bodies in 2005/06 and 2008/09

28 October 2009

AN OFFICIAL STATISTICS PUBLICATION FOR SCOTLAND

This one-off publication presents statistics on the number of non-statutory quantitative data collections conducted by Scottish Government in 2005/06 and 2008/09. Most of the publication focuses on requests for data made to Local Government and a wide range of Public Bodies.

Key points

• There were 345 requests for quantitative information made to external bodies by Scottish Government in 2005/06. In 2008/09 this number had fallen by 20% to 276.
• This was a net reduction: altogether 108 collections were dropped (90 from Local Government and Public Bodies) and 39 new collections were established.
• The reduction in burden has mainly affected the public sector. Local authorities received 41 fewer requests for information (a 36% drop) and public bodies received 11 fewer (an 8% drop).
• Thirty-eight collections dropped from public bodies and local government were dropped as a direct result of the removal of ring-fenced budgeting or in light of the 2007 Concordat between Scottish Government and CoSLA.

Chart 1: Number of Data Requests 2005/06 and 2008/09

Context

In 2007 a Concordat was signed by Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on behalf of Local Government which stated that local authorities will not be asked to submit any monitoring returns to the Scottish Government without prior agreement over and above: Single Outcome Agreements, statutory requirements, on-going statistical returns and formal inspections.

In April 2009 a research report, Statutory Requirements for Research in Central and Local Government, presented the statutory requirements for local government to provide Scottish Government with information including plans, research, reviews, strategies and progress reports. The research included focus groups with local government researchers asking them for suggestions to address research pressure. One suggestion was to Streamline Data Collection and Sharing.

This current publication builds on the previous research by presenting the number of on-going statistical returns as well as ad-hoc requests for quantitative information and showing the change in number of requests since 2005/06, before the Concordat between Scottish Government and Local Authorities was signed.

Background and Coverage

In 2006, The Scottish Executive undertook an internal review of statistical and administrative returns for the 2005-06 financial year in order to identify areas where streamlining could be undertaken. The review covered:

• All collections conducted by the Scottish Executive Statistics Group
• All quantitative data collections for information from public bodies, including collections from businesses providing a service on behalf of the Public Sector such as Registered Social Landlords, from any part of The Scottish Executive, Communities Scotland and HM Inspectorate of Education
• Returns related to distributing funds to Public Bodies, including local government, Agencies, voluntary bodies, etc, and to individuals or businesses, from any part of The Scottish Executive, Communities Scotland and HM Inspectorate of Education

In light of the Concordat and the Statutory Requirements for Research in Central and Local Government research report, the review was re-run in August 2009. All divisions across the core Scottish Government (including HMIE but excluding GROS, agencies and non-departmental public bodies) were asked whether the information supplied in 2005/06 was still true for the 2008/09 financial year, to explain any changes and to provide details of any new data collections. Due to heavy workload in some areas responses to the review were in some cases incomplete. The results presented in the following pages contain some gaps in information and it is possible that a small number of data collections have been inadvertently excluded. It is highly unlikely that enough collections have been excluded to invalidate the main messages of the report. In the event that this turns out to be the case, a revised publication will be produced.

A list of non-statutory requests for data in 2005/06 and 2008/09 and a table of statutes relating to data collection is given below.

Summary Results

Table 1: Number of data collections in 2005/06 and 2008/09 by primary respondent

^{1 In addition to Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Crown Bodies 'Public Bodies' include the following: schools, colleges, universities, health boards, registered social landlords, Scotland's 4 Science Centres, police forces, care homes, secure accommodation units.}

Table 1 above shows that all sectors experienced fewer requests for information from Scottish Government in 2008/09 compared to 2005/06. This was a net reduction: altogether 108 collections were dropped and 39 new collections were established. While these figures only refer to the number of individual requests and not the size or complexity of those requests, they nevertheless indicate a reduction in burden for information.

The following summary tables refer to data collections from Local Authorities and Public Bodies only.

The number of ad-hoc/one-off collections in 2008/09 were about half the number in 2005/06 whereas continuous/weekly or monthly requests increased slightly over the period. It should be noted that a small number of data collections that occurred in one year but not the other were not necessarily dropped or newly established but the frequency of data collection, which may be triennial or ad-hoc, meant they did not occur in that year.

Table 2: Frequency of data collections from local authorities and public bodies in 2005/06 and 2008/09

Table 3: Publication of data collected from local authorities and public bodies in 2005/06 and 2008/09

^{1 In some cases data collected in 2008/09 has not yet been published and responses given here relate to publication planned for the coming months.}

Table 3 provides the primary route by which data collected are made publicly available, in many cases multiple routes are used, for example a full report is published on the internet and some information is included in a hard copy publication, which is not reflected in the figures above. In both 2005/06 and 2008/09 publishing full reports on the Scottish Government internet is the main route for dissemination of data.

Forty-nine data collections were for Scottish Government use only and data were not made publicly available in 2008/09. In 16 cases for 2005/06 and 3 for 2008/09 the information about publication was not provided for inclusion in the current publication.

Table 4 on the following page shows the number of data collections from local authorities and public bodies by the primary reason for them being dropped, and Chart 2 below it shows the same data as proportions. Only two collections were dropped because they related to partnership agreement or targets that no longer exist, just over a quarter were only ever intended to be one-off or short lived collections, a quarter related to a ring-fenced budget that no longer exists, just less than one-fifth were dropped in direct response to the Concordat between Local Government and Scottish Government and one-fifth either became the responsibility of another organisation or were dropped because it was no longer appropriate for the Scottish Government to collect.

Table 4: Primary reason for data collection from local authorities and public bodies being dropped between 2005/06 and 2008/09

^{1 A small number of data collections that were ceased because the data were no longer needed have been included in this category including the Quarterly Social Work Staffing and Vacancies Collection and the Day Care Services for Adults return.}

^{2 Also includes one collection, the OHSS Minimum Dataset, that has been dropped but there are plans to replace it.}

Chart 2: Reasons for Data Collections from Local Authorities and Public Bodies Being Dropped

All non-statutory quantitative data collections for statistical information

The following tables list:

• Non-statutory collections conducted by the Statistics Group in 2005/06 and 2008/09
• Non-statutory quantitative data collections for information, including collections from businesses providing a service on behalf of the Public Sector such as Registered Social Landlords, from any part of The Scottish Executive in 2005/06 and The Scottish Government in 2008/09
• Non-statutory returns related to distributing funds to Public Bodies, including local government, Agencies, voluntary bodies, etc, and to individuals or businesses, from any part of The Scottish Executive and The Scottish Government in 2008/09

For statutory collections see "Statutory Requirements for Research in Central and Local Government" at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/04/02143815/0

The information is presented in the following tables:

Table 5a: Collections from Local Authorities occurring in both 2005/06 and 2008/09

Table 5b: Collections from Local Authorities occurring in 2005/06 but not 2008/09

Table 5c: Collections from Local Authorities occurring in 2008/09 but not 2005/06

Table 6a: Collections from Public Bodies occurring in both 2005/06 and 2008/09

Table 6b: Collections from Public Bodies occurring in 2005/06 but not 2008/09

Table 6c: Collections from Public Bodies occurring in 2008/09 but not 2005/06

Table 7a: Collections from Businesses and Voluntary Organisations occurring in both 2005/06 and 2008/09

Table 7b: Collections from Businesses and Voluntary Organisations occurring in 2005/06 but not 2008/09

Table 8a: Collections from Individuals and Households occurring in both 2005/06 and 2008/09

Table 8b: Collections from Individuals and Households occurring in 2005/06 but not 2008/09

Table 8c: Collections from Individuals and Households occurring in 2008/09 but not 2005/06

Statutes relating to quantitative data collections for statistical information

The table below lists Parliamentary Acts relating to duties to provide quantitative or statistical information to Scottish Government, Scottish Ministers or HMIE. Data collections conducted by Scottish Government that are covered by these acts have been excluded from the counts in all previous tables.

Table 9: Acts that contain duties to provide quantitative or statistical information to Scottish Government, Scottish Ministers or HMIE¹

1 This table is an abridged version of Appendix 3 of Statutory Requirements for Research in Central and Local Government, written by Paolo Vestri, Hexagon Research and Consulting in association with Paula Gilder Consulting and Adrian Colwell Associates, published by Scottish Government Social Research in conjunction with LARIA 2009. Only Acts that contain some duty to provide data or information to central government are included.

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