Press release No. 166 of 1 April 2021
WIESBADEN – In a virtual workshop held on 31 March 2021, the Directors-General of the European National Statistical Institutes discussed the challenges posed to official statistics agencies by emerging new data ecosystems and their roles in these systems. There was agreement that a sustainable European Statistical System requires a harmonised joint digital agenda, which contains also new tasks to be assumed. The coronavirus pandemic has clearly shown the demand for open, up-to-date information comparable at the European level. The workshop centred on the introduction of a Data Stewardship approach comprising data management, data competence and data service. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) was represented at the meeting by its President Dr. Georg Thiel.
Dr. Thiel chaired a workshop session on Data Stewardship roles in die individual countries. The aim was to find best practice examples and gain insights for the strategic development in the Member States of the European Statistical System (ESS). Lithuania was one of the examples. In the course of the coronavirus pandemic, statistics legislation was amended in Lithuania so as to enable the national statistical institute to provide all relevant statistics via a State Data Governance Information System.
In other sessions the participants identified areas in which the national statistical institutes can take proactive action or require a clear legal mandate to assume tasks of a national data manager in keeping with the Data Steward approach. The ability to react quickly to new data needs while ensuring a good data quality is of central importance here.
The Directors-General of the ESS will prepare a roadmap for the steps to be taken in order to specify and introduce a Data Stewardship approach at European level.
The workshop was held by the Council Presidency trio partners Germany-Portugal-Slovenia in cooperation with Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union.
