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SECTION IV: OTHER INFORMATION

The performance of a national statistical agency is multidimensional. Different audiences are interested in different dimensions of performance. Statistics Canada recognizes its responsibility to report on dimensions of performance not visible from outside the Department.

The dimensions of quality are overlapping and interrelated. There is no effective model for bringing all the characteristics of quality together into a single indicator. Each dimension has to be adequately managed if information is to be fit for use. Failure in any one dimension can destroy the usefulness of the information.

Financial performance is monitored at a broad level through financial management information systems to provide information on expenditures and program efficiency, and on costs by program, organizational unit, and function. These systems are supported by a framework of financial policies and procedures, cost recording systems, and internal financial performance measures.

Respondent burden and respondent relations more generally are monitored in a variety of ways. These include direct measurement of the number of respondent hours required to complete Statistics Canada surveys, identifying and exploiting alternative information sources (e.g. administrative data), developing alternative means of reporting and collecting information (e.g. data reporting through user-friendly electronic means), and through feedback obtained from respondents.

Human resource management is monitored through regular employee feedback from internal and public service-wide surveys, exit and turnover rates, knowledge transfer, exit interviews, as well as through Biennial (every second year) and Quadrennial (every fourth year) Program Reports from every program.

Table 4.1 Performance Monitoring Measures and Indicators: Statistics Canada's Quality Assurance Framework


Performance Measures: Performance Indicators:
Relevance:
  • Use of statistics in policy formulation and decision making
  • The production of new statistical information in areas required to formulate policy and to make decisions
  • The production of knowledge that contributes to an understanding of Canada's economic and social history, trends and issues
  • The extent to which statistical information serves to address the purposes for which it was produced and fills the needs of users
Information Quality:
  • The timely release of high quality statistical information
  • Statistics which adhere to recognised national and international standards
  • Availability of quality descriptors and technical notes
  • Statistics which are accessible to Canadians
Maintenance of a national statistical knowledge infrastructure:
  • Controlled Respondent Burden
  • Maximum use of administrative data
  • Use of modern methods and technologies
  • Skilled and responsive staff
Program Relevance
  • Support to policy decision making
  • The production of new statistical information
  • Program improvements resulting from user feedback
Accuracy of information
  • Survey coverage (mission critical surveys*)
  • Sampling error (mission critical surveys)
  • Response rates (mission critical surveys)
  • Statistical revision patterns
Timeliness of Information
  • Measures of elapsed time between reference period and release dates
Accessibility of Information
  • Access to information products and services including:
  • Media citations
  • Internet connections
  • Website services
  • Client contacts with Regional Offices
  • Sales
  • Partnerships
  • Client satisfaction measurements
Interpretability of Information
  • Availability of quality descriptors and technical notes
  • The availability of meta data
Coherence of Information
  • Use of Classification Standards (mission critical surveys)
Maintenance of a National Statistical Knowledge Infrastructure
  • Calculated respondent burden
  • Use of administrative data in lieu of surveys
  • Alternative means of reporting and collecting data
  • Employee Opinion survey
  • Employee turnover rates
  • Investments in employee training
* Mission critical surveys: The Department has identified as "departmental mission critical programs" those that provide key current socio-economic indicators. These are: the Labour Force Survey, the Consumer Price Index, the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, International Trade Statistics, Monthly Wholesale/Retail Trade Survey, the Monthly and Quarterly Gross Domestic Product, the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (income component), the Quarterly Financial Survey and the Industrial Product Price Index. See also Table 4.3.
For further information on the Quality Assurance Framework, please follow this link:
http://www.statcan.ca:8096/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=12-586-X&CHROPG=1

Table 4.2 Schedule of Quadrennial Program Reviews (QPR) and the Biennial Program Reports (BPR)


Program
2007-2008
2008-2009
2009-2010
Human Resources
BPR
 
QPR
Finance, Planning, and Evaluation
QPR
 
BPR
Data Access and Control Services
 
BPR
 
Internal Audit
 
BPR
 
Public Institutions
QPR
 
BPR
Balance of Payments
QPR
 
BPR
Analytical Studies
QPR
 
BPR
Industry Account Division
 
QPR
 
Environment Accounts and Statistics
 
BPR
 
Income and Expenditure Accounts
BPR
QPR
 
Agriculture
BPR
 
QPR
International Trade
BPR
 
QPR
Manufacturing, Construction and Energy
 
BPR
 
Science, Innovation and Electronic Information
BPR
 
QPR
Service Industries
QPR
 
BPR
Distributive Trades
QPR
 
BPR
Investment and Capital Stock
QPR
 
BPR
Industrial Organisation and Finance
QPR
 
BPR
Enterprise Statistics
QPR
 
BPR
Small Business and Special Surveys
 
BPR
 
Transportation
BPR
QPR
 
Prices
BPR
 
QPR
Methodology
BPR
 
QPR
Tax Data
 
BPR
 
Informatics Technology Services
 
BPR
 
Business Register
 
QPR
 
Small Area and Administrative Data
 
BPR
 
Standards
 
BPR
 
Geography
QPR
 
BPR
Systems Development
 
QPR
 
Operations and Integration
BPR
 
QPR
Communications and Information Services
 
BPR
 
Administrative Support Services
 
BPR
 
Regional Operations
QPR
 
 
Operations Research and Development
 
QPR
 
Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics
 
BPR
 
Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics
QPR
 
BPR
Labour and Household Surveys Analysis
 
BPR
 
Social and Aboriginal Statistics
BPR
 
QPR
Demography/Demolinguistics Studies
BPR
 
QPR
Special Surveys
QPR
 
BPR
Income Statistics
BPR
 
QPR
Labour Statistics
QPR
 
BPR
Socio-Economic and Business Analysis
QPR
 
BPR
Health Statistics
 
BPR
 
Physical Health Measures
 
BPR
 

Table 4.3 Alphabetical Listing of Statistics Canada's Core Products


Aboriginal Statistics and Statistical Training Program International Investment Position
Adult Corrections Survey and Adult Corrections Resources, Expenditures and Personnel Survey International Travel Survey (ITS)
Adult Criminal Court Survey Inter-Provincial Wholesale Commodity Survey (every two years)
Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS) Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Air Statistics (sub-annual and annual) - Civil Aviation and Traffic Legal Aid Survey
Annual Special Studies (varied topics) Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants
Annual Business Service Industries Machinery and Equipment
Annual Consumer Service Industries Marine Statistics (Sub-annual and Annual)
Annual Crop Statistics Market Research Handbook
Annual Cultural Industries Statistics Micro and Macroeconomic Research
Annual Energy Surveys Migration Estimates
Annual Government Financial Statistics (SNA) Monthly Canadian Economic Observer
Annual Homicide Survey Monthly Energy Surveys
Annual Income and Prices Statistics Monthly GDP by Industry
Annual I-O Tables at Current and Constant Prices Monthly Manufacturing Commodity Surveys
Annual Livestock Statistics Monthly New Motor Vehicle Survey
Annual National Input Output Tables Monthly Restaurants, Caterers and Taverns Survey (MRCTS)
Annual Police Administration Survey Monthly Retail Trade Survey
Annual Property Service Industries Monthly Survey of Manufacturing
Annual Provincial GDP by Industry Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey
Annual Provincial Input Output Tables Motion Picture Laboratory Operations, Production and Post-Production
Annual Retail Trade Survey Motion Picture Theatres
Annual Survey of Manufactures and Forestry Multifactor Productivity
Annual Wholesale Trade Survey National Graduate Survey (NGS)
Balance of Payments National Routing System
Balance Sheet and Financial Flows National Wealth and Capital Stock
Biennial Courts Revenues, Expenditures and Personnel Survey New Housing Price Index
Biennial Prosecutions Resources, Expenditures and Personnel Survey Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account
Biotechnology Statistics Non-Residential Construction Price Index
Book Publishing Pan-Canadian Education Indicator Project
Business Condition Survey Pension Plans in Canada Survey
Business Register Periodicals Publishing
Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (CSGVP) Population Estimates and Projections
Canadian Cancer Registry Population Health Statistics Program
Canadian Health Measures Survey Provincial Economic Accounts
Canadian Community Health Survey Quarterly Energy Surveys
Canadian Segment of the World Values Survey Quarterly Government Financial Statistics (SNA)
Capital Expenditures Quarterly Labour Productivity
Census of Agriculture Quarterly Retail Commodity Survey
Census of Population Quarterly Survey of Financial Statistics for Enterprises
Changing Life Paths and Time Allocation Patterns Rail, Bus, Urban Transit, Fuel (Sub-annual and Annual)
Civil Courts Survey Research Data Centres: Selected Micro data Files
Consumer Price Index (CPI) Services Producer Price Indexes
Corporations Returns Act Small Business Finance Statistics
Culture analysis and dissemination Social Statistics Integration and Analysis
Current Investment Indicators -includes building permits Socio-economic Indicators of Connectedness
Employment Insurance Sound Recording Survey
Enhanced Student Information System (ESIS) Sub-Annual Crop Statistics
Environmental Accounts and Surveys Sub-Annual Farm Income and Prices Statistics
Environmental Indicators Initiative Sub-Annual Livestock Statistics
Exporter Registry Survey of Deposit-Accepting Intermediaries
Family and Labour Studies
  • Health Analysis and Measurement
  • Business and Labour Market Analysis
  • Socio-Economic Analysis and Modeling
Survey of Employment, Payrolls, and Hours
Family Violence Statistical Program Survey of Financial Security
Farm Input Price Index Survey of Household Spending (SHS)
Film, Video and Audio Visual Production and Distribution Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID)
Financial and Taxation Statistics for Enterprises Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs
Food Expenditure Survey Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing
General Social Survey (GSS) expansion Tax Data
General Social Survey (GSS) Television Viewing and Radio Listening Databanks
Geography Standards Transition Home Survey
Government Expenditures on Culture Travel Survey of Residents of Canada
Government Financial Statistics (FMS-GFS) Trucking, Vehicles, Taxis, Couriers (Sub-annual and annual)
Health Person Oriented Information Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR)
Heritage Institutions Union Wage Rate Indexes for Major Construction Trade
Imports/Export and Balance of Trade Unpaid Work Analysis and Population Studies
Income & Expenditure Accounts (GDP) Vital Statistics
Industrial Product Price Index Workplace and Employee Survey
Information System for Science and Technology Youth Court Survey
Institutions Surveys Youth Custody and Community Services Survey