1. This integrated presentation of international
statistical work in the UN/ECE region includes a new section
listing the decisions that the Bureau recommends that the
Conference take during the course of the plenary session. It
includes information on the statistical work to be undertaken in
the next two yers by all major international and supranational
organizations in the region. The decision-making authority of the
Conference is restricted to the Conference's own programme of work.
However, in the interest of coordination of international
statistical work in countries in the ECE and OECD regions, when
deemed appropriate, the Conference also provides guidance and
advice to the other international organizations on their
statistical work programmes and calendar of meetings.
Mandate of the Conference
2. The integrated presentation and the programme of work of the Conference provides the structure within which the plenary session of the Conference of European Statisticians provides guidance and direction in pursuing its objectives as confirmed by the Conference at its 1993 plenary session, as follows:
i) to improve national statistics and their international comparability having regard to the recommendations of the Statistical Commission of the United Nations, the Specialized Agencies and other appropriate bodies, as necessary;
ii) to promote close coordination of the statistical activities in Europe of international organizations so as to achieve greater uniformity in concepts and definitions and to reduce to a minimum the burdens on national statistical offices; and
iii) to respond to any emerging need for international statistical cooperation arising out of transition, integration and other processes of cooperation both within the ECE region and between the ECE region and other regions.
3. The integrated presentation contained in this document and in its six addenda provides an overview of the international statistical work that is planned to be carried out in the next two years in the UN/ECE region by all of the major international organizations active in the region. They include the Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), the European Commission, the OECD, the UN Statistical Division, the ILO, the IMF, Unesco, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS STAT) and other international organizations. It has been prepared for review by the Conference of European Statisticians at its 1995 plenary session, to assist it in carrying out its primary role of coordinating international statistical work carried out in this region. The integrated presentation also serves as a valuable coordinating tool at the national level, for countries are increasingly using it to assist them in deciding on their participation in meetings convened by the various international organizations.
4. This is the third integrated presentation that has been prepared for review by the Conference at its annual plenary sessions. (The two earlier presentations were prepared for the Conference's 1993 and 1994 plenary sessions). It differs from the two earlier presentations in that it reflects the developments agreed by the Bureau of the Conference during 1994/95, as requested by the Conference, to further improve both the integrated presentation proper and the procedures that the Conference uses for programming and coordinating international statistical work in the ECE region. The major innovations introduced by the Bureau during the past year have been incorporated into the presentation contained in the addenda to this note. The innovations may be summarized as follows:
a) The Bureau conducted an in-depth review of the sub- programmes on economic statistics at their meeting in October 1994 (sub-programme 3) and social and demographic statistics at their meeting in February 1995(sub-programme 4). This resulted in numerous proposed changes to the objectives and outputs for the projects in each of these sub-programmes. (It is anticipated that the other sub-programmes will be reviewed in depth in the next two years by the new Bureau, during its 1995-1997 term of office).
b) The Bureau considered that it would be useful for the Conference to ask various international organizations active in the region to serve as "rapporteurs or focal points" for monitoring progress towards the outputs and objectives that have been specified for each project. It drew up a list of tasks that rapporteurs/focal points would be asked to carry out on behalf of the Conference (see paras 14-15 below). It also suggested which organization should be asked to act as the rapporteur/focal point for most of the projects in sub-programmes 3 and 4. (It is anticipated that during the 1995/96 period the new Bureau will also suggest which organizations might be asked to act as rapporteurs for the projects in the other sub-programmes).
c) The Bureau also agreed that the sequence of sub- headings within each project (objectives, outputs, etc.) should be re-arranged, so that the information of greatest potential interest to the Conference would be presented at the beginning of each project.
d) The Bureau further agreed that the wording of most of the sub-headings should be modified, so as to make their intended meaning clearer.
5. The draft integrated presentation for 1995/96 and
1996/97 (CES/1995/R.15 and addenda 1-6) will be reviewed by the
Conference at its 1995 plenary session, and amended subsequent to
the plenary session to reflect decisions taken during the meeting.
Structure of the integrated presentation
6. The integrated presentation is divided into six major sub- programmes which comprise the programme of work of the Conference, and these sub-programmes are in turn sub-divided into a total of 47 programme elements (see Table 1).
7. Sub-programme 1 covers broad policy and managerial issues of relevance to statistical offices, as well as international coordination and technical assistance.
8. Sub-programme 2 addresses technical and other cross-cutting issues that span the various subject-matter areas covered by sub-programmes 3, 4 and 5. Technical issues applying only to a particular subject area are addressed under that subject area; only cross-cutting issues are addressed under sub-programme 2.
9. The core of the programme lies in the substantive sub- programmes 3, 4 and 5 which address economic statistics, social statistics, and environmental statistics respectively. Each of these sub-programmes may address conceptual issues, standards, and questions of design, collection, production, dissemination and analysis of statistical data arising in their domains.
10. Sub-programme 6 covers the work of the secretariats in disseminating statistical data, and in providing support to their host organizations.
11. The division of these sub-programmes into 47 programme elements aims to be exhaustive while keeping the number of programme elements to a minimum consistent with the aims of the Conference. Each programme element is characterized by a statement of broad objectives and scope in a homogeneous area of statistical activity. The complete list of programme elements in the Conference's programme of work is provided in Table 1, together with an indication of the document in the integrated presentation in which information for the programme element can be found. The list of abbreviations used in the work programmes are given in Annex I.
12. While the structure and delineation of programme elements are expected to change slowly, the level of activity within programme elements will vary more rapidly between elements and over time. At any one time, some programme elements will be dormant, while others may be hyperactive. For each planning period, the Conference will be required to review proposed goals and activities for particular programme elements and to decide on priorities.
13. The descriptions of each of the programme elements aim to provide a framework for all international statistical work relevant to national statistical offices in the ECE region and other OECD countries. The following standard headings are used within each programme element.
14. The Bureau of the Conference, in its in-depth review of sub-programmes 3 (economic statistics) and 4 (social and demographic statistics) in 1994/95, concluded that in programme elements where several international organizations are actively working, it would be useful for the Conference to ask one agency to serve as the "rapporteur or focal point" for the Conference for work in that field. The Bureau has suggested suitable agencies for most of the projects in sub-programmes 3 and 4 (see addenda 3 and 4 of this note). It is anticipated that during 1995/96 the Bureau will also make recommendations to the Conference for rapporteurs/focal points for the programme elements in the other sub-programmes.
15. The specific functions which the Bureau recommends that rapporteurs/focal points perform on behalf of the Conference are summarized below:
a) to report to the Bureau annually, through the Secretary of the Conference, on the extent to which progress is being made by the agencies in meeting the 'objectives' and 'outputs' (these reports are to be submitted at the end of each calendar year, so that the Bureau may review them at its February meeting and report to the Conference each June);
b) to keep abreast of the relevant activities that are being undertaken by other relevant agencies, in order to fulfil function (a) above;
c) to advise the Bureau on how the objectives and outputs might best be achieved;
d) to ensure that all relevant agencies are aware of the objectives and outputs that have been approved by the Conference;
e) to suggest to the Bureau, when necessary, how the objectives and/or outputs should be amended so as to ensure that they reflect the intended meanings of these terms (see para. 13 above) and to make clearer which organization is responsible for each output indicated; and;
f) when deemed appropriate, to identify and include in their reports to the February annual meetings of the Bureau, a small number of key issues concerning ongoing or planned future work in the project which they consider sufficiently important for the Bureau to bring to the attention of the Conference at its annual plenary session.
Planned future development of the integrated presentation
16. The process of improving the integrated presentation is still not yet complete. In particular, the new objectives, activities, meetings and outputs in each programme element in sub-programmes 1, 2, 5 and 6 are not yet fully consistent, and further work remains to be done in reconciling the components of each programme element. The new Bureau is expected to address these issues during the next two years.
Other relevant information
17. Background information on ECE secretariat resources available for the work programme of the Conference is given in Annex I of this note. The Conference may wish to take that information into account when reviewing its draft work programme presented in Addenda 1-6.
18. The list of abbreviations that are used by Eurostat and
the OECD in describing their work programmes is given in Annex II.
Table 1. List of programme elements in the programme of work of
the Conference
(together with an indication of the
document in which information for that programme element
can be found)
Sub-programme Programme element
Sub-programme 1: 1.1 Issues of statistical policy
Organization and 1.2 Transition countries
Operation of statistical 1.3 Promotion and coordination of
services (See document international statistical work
1.4 Technical assistance to
developing countries
Sub-programme 2: 2.1 Management of statistical
Technical infrastructure information technology
and other cross-cutting 2.2 Statistical data collection and
issues (See document processing
2.3 Dissemination and interchange of
statistical information
2.4 Industry, commodity and
occupation classifications
2.5 Statistical methodology
2.6 Geography
2.7 Regional statistics
2.8 Training
Sub-programme 3: 3.1 Implementation of the system of
Economic statistics (See national accounts
document 3.2 Money and banking, government
3.3 International trade in goods
3.4 Transport
3.5 Distributive trades
3.6 International trade in services
3.7 Tourism
3.8 Other marketed services, and non-
marketed services
3.9 Price statistics, including
purchasing power parities
3.10 Agricultural statistics
3.11 Industrial statistics
3.12 Energy statistics
3.13 Science and technology
statistics
3.14 Business registers and
administrative records in
support of economic statistics
3.XX Other work in the field of
economic statistics
Sub-programme 4: Social 4.1 Social indicators and frameworks
and demographic 4.2 Gender statistics
statistics (See document 4.3 Multi-purpose social surveys
4.4 Registers and administrative
records for social and
demographic statistics
4.5 Population and housing censuses
4.6 Health statistics
4.7 Crime and criminal justice
statistics
4.8 Education and training
statistics
4.9 Culture statistics
4.10 Labour statistics
4.11 Demographic statistics
(including projections,
migration and fertility)
4.12 Human settlements and housing
statistics
4.13 Statistics of household income
and expenditures, of the welfare
of the population, and of
poverty and income inequality
4.14 Statistics on population groups
of special interest
4.XX Other work in the field of
social and demographic
statistics
Sub-programme 5: Natural 5.1 Standards and frameworks for
resources and environmental data and
environment statistics indicators
(See document 5.2 Natural resources and
5.3 Environmental database
development and dissemination
Sub-programme 6: 6.1 Dissemination of statistical
Dissemination and data by the secretariats
support for secretariat 6.2 Statistical support for other
activities (See document activities of the secretariats
Annex I
ECE secretariat resources available for the work programme
of the Conference of European Statisticians, 1995/96 and 1996/97
1. The draft programme of work of the Conference of European
Statisticians for 1995/96 and 1996/97 is presented in addenda 1-6
of this note, in conjunction with the statistical work programmes
of other international and supranational organizations active in
the ECE region. The draft programme of work of the Conference is
included, programme element by programme element, under the heading
"Activities of the ECE". However, in several programme elements,
ECE statistical work is also presented under this heading which is
the responsibility of other ECE Divisions or ECE Principal
Subsidiary Bodies. In such cases, the planned future work does not
form part of the draft programme of work of the Conference, nor is
the Conference responsible for it. Moreover, in such cases, the
text also always makes clear that these types of ECE activities are
the responsibility of other ECE Divisions.
2. This annex contains information on the amount of ECE
secretariat resources that are expected to be available for the
Conference's work programme for 1995/96 and 1996/97, which the
Conference may wish to take into account when deciding on its work
programme.1 Additional information on the secretariat resource
base available for the Conference's work is also presented in
document CES/1995/R.22, alongside the resources of other
organisations field by field.
3. In considering its draft programme of work for 1995/96, the
Conference may wish to take the following information about
secretariat resources into account. It responds to the provisions
of Commission decisions E (48) on the provision of adequate
resources for the servicing of the priority and other sectors of
the Economic Commission for Europe and I (48) on reporting from the
Subsidiary Bodies to the Commission:
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1 Details on the budget of the ECE for the 1996-1997 biennium will not be available until around the end of 1995, and therefore budgetary information presented in this annex relates only to the 1994-1995 biennium.