Businesses and individuals are burdened by a variety of agencies seeking information. Only some of the information requested is for surveys for official statistics. Within the official statistics system, there are several agencies conducting surveys across government, with Statistics NZ as the major producer of official statistics.
Respondent load from official statistics is only a part of the load imposed by government. The Business New Zealand, KPMG Compliance Cost Survey gives an overview of how respondent load from official statistics compares to other types of compliance costs. This survey of over 1,000 businesses found that Inland Revenue and the Accident Compensation Corporation tend to have the largest compliance load issues for businesses.
Our requirements are a small part of the overall total and concern about government compliance load. Less than 2 percent of businesses had our surveys as their first compliance load priority. However, the KPMG survey identified a consistent theme – businesses do not see the value in the information they are providing. This survey also does not reflect the fact that the load imposed by our surveys is not uniform – most businesses receive no surveys, but those that do may feel the burden more acutely.
See appendix 1 for more detail on the wider context of respondent load.
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Official statistics are a public good, but it is important to balance the demand for statistics with the load placed on businesses, households and individuals providing data.
The wider OECD definition, see http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=4457, describes respondent load as:
The effort, in terms of time and cost, required for respondents to provide satisfactory answers to the survey. In context this means that [load] can lead to [respondents] experiencing annoyance, anger, frustration, etc., at being requested to participate, with escalation of these feelings generated by the complexity, length and/or frequency of surveys.
This means that some dimensions of respondent load are easier to quantify than others are, and therefore we can't measure every initiative developed to reduce load easily. An example could be the introduction of electronic forms that may not reduce the time taken to enter data into a questionnaire, but may provide respondents with a more positive experience by providing links to other electronic information.
As we are the main producer of official statistics in New Zealand, and therefore the main collector of information for official statistics, the goals over the next three years focus on reducing the load caused by information requests from Statistics New Zealand.
If producers of official statistics seem to be making unreasonable demands for information from the public and businesses, the ongoing supply of data could be at risk. Risk may manifest in different ways, such as less timely data that delays publication, lower quality estimates, or the refusal to supply any data at all. Any of these outcomes could erode trust and confidence in official statistics, and this trust is a vital component of ongoing willingness and cooperation. Ultimately, any deterioration in the quality of data and the estimates they contribute to will have a flow on effect on policy decisions.
The aim of the strategy is to:
- reduce respondent load
- balance the needs of users against those of respondents
- meet respondents' reasonable expectations of Statistics NZ
- responsibly manage the Official Statistics System to ensure the ongoing trust and participation of the New Zealand public.
Our Statement of Intent 2007 sets out the main goals associated with the objective of reducing respondent load and this strategy is structured around those goals.
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Demonstrate the value of official statistics to respondents
To ensure that respondents obtain value for the investment of their time, they need to be aware that many statistics are publicly available and we can tailor information to meet their needs.
The focus of communicating value will be to show respondents how they can use official statistics to improve their business. This initiative will also reflect research that shows that most businesses want more information than relates to one particular survey. Rather, they want packages of information that help explain their market and their industry.
We aim to work with key segments of the business sector to give the best possible service to providers who are required to complete several surveys. The Provider Relations Unit works with some of New Zealand's most economically significant enterprises to support the achievement of our vision and statistical objectives. These include an increased willingness from respondents to comply, a greater awareness of our products and services and a keener appreciation of the value of official statistics.
Reduce the load on businesses
We recognise the important and unique role that small businesses play in the economy and that the cost of compliance with official information requests can be disproportionately greater for these businesses. We are committed to significantly reducing the survey load on small businesses.
The use of administrative data (information collected by other agencies) is one important means by which the number of direct information requests made by us to small businesses has been, and will continue to be, reduced.
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Make it easier to respond
The respondent load strategy supports the development of a new data collection infrastructure. This infrastructure will enable the deployment of additional data collection modes, such as the Internet, which will give respondents more choices as to how they provide data. The new infrastructure will also ensure better management of respondent contact details across surveys. This means that duplication of data requests can be minimised and we can apply changes to address or other business information immediately to all applicable systems.
We will demonstrate how standardised reporting technologies such as XBRL (an electronic format for storing financial information that can automate the representation of data for multiple reporting requirements) can help reduce the effort businesses must make to produce information for surveys.
Identify and manage areas of unreasonable load
We must be transparent about the compliance obligations associated with our surveys. This means consistently measuring and reporting respondent load, and giving individual respondents accurate and reasonable expectations of the load that we will impose on them.
When we identify that our requests have exceeded reasonable load expectations, we will manage load issues on a case-by-case basis. This will range from communicating the reasons why a respondent (or respondent group) has a higher than expected compliance load, to actively working on ways to minimise the load imposed.
Improved respondent advocacy will be important to help support this goal and to provide the Government Statistician with objective advice relating to respondent load issues.