Release of official statistics holds agencies to account

In reply to ‘A lot of data and negative statistics’: Inside the battle behind dramatic edits and huge delays to a Government mental health report (April 5), by Henry Cooke, I wish to express my deep concern about a statement quoted of a New Zealand health official ‘‘that there was no legal requirement to produce the [mental health statistics] report and suggested it be shortened’’.

Few important agency statistics are prepared in order to comply with a law; rather, they maintain public trust and inform practitioners in the field of progress and conditions across the populations of importance.

In fact the Government Statistician has published for some 25 years a set of statistical protocols that departments are expected to follow, outlining standards and practices that would make them compliant with obligations specified in the Statistics Act.

The statistical protocols draw on international standards set by the UN, IMF and those generally adopted around the world. They were introduced in New Zealand to provide a common basis for trust in government statistics wherever they are prepared.

This is critical to protect the public from agencies that are perceived to be varying how they present statistics to support policy settings of the moment, and hence place at risk long-term trust in official statistics generally. New Zealand has an enviable record internationally in statistical integrity to guard in this regard.

Official statistics are one of the few consistent ways that agencies are held to account by the general public, usually through the capacity they enable for independent third-party expert review and comment of their condition and progress.

In the absence of sound statistics then anecdote and overseas experience will dominate the public understanding of what is happening in New Zealand.

The health sector in New Zealand is far too important to all of us for unanswered doubts to exist about the quality of official statistics about health services, whatever their condition.

The recent Public Service Act and its focus on ‘‘the spirit of service’’ is a strong bastion for maintaining trust in government as it recognises that the actions of the public service require not only compliance with the law, but also the spirit behind it, if the public interest is to be seen to be genuinely respected.

Public legitimacy is not simply an academic concept for lawyers but also one of deep interest to communities. Whatever the proper position, the unfortunate answers to the criticisms of these practices in the release of mental health statistics risk undermining trust in the release practices of all agencies.

As a small example, it is a matter of course for simple calculations like population rates to be calculated by the responsible agency, once and for all, as they are the best resourced and the most expert at doing so on a continuing basis. This has been a long-standing practice for the last century across the public sector. Len Cook, former Government Statistician and former National Statistician of the United Kingdom