ACRONYMS National Statistics Institute

Quality management at the INE

The INE bases its quality management system on elements:

Institutional structure

An institutional structure specifically created and dedicated to quality management. It is composed of:

  • Quality Unit: specialized administrative unit in charge of the management and design of quality procedures.
  • Quality Committee: collegiate body for quality management.

Set of policies and actions

A set of policies and actions to ensure compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice (ESCoP) and implement the procedures foreseen in the European Union Common Quality Assurance Framework (QAF):

  • Distribution of statistical results subject to a news embargo

    • According to the European Statistics Code of Practice, all users have access to the same statistical information at the same time and prior privileged access to any external user should be limited, controlled and made public.

      In this regard, a few hours before their official publication, INE statistics are sent under embargo to the body to which it is attached, the Secretariat of State for the Economy and Business Support of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, in order to allow sufficient time for those responsible to prepare answers to possible questions from journalists.

      Likewise, by virtue of the signing of the Multilateral Working Agreement for cooperation in statistical matters between the INE and the Central Statistical Bodies of the Autonomous Communities (OCECA), sixteen OCECAs receive information under embargo, both relating to their territory (at the regional and provincial scales) and to the national total (at the national scale), so that they may prepare and publish press releases in synchronisation with the INE relating to their respective territorial spheres. OCECAs, like the INE, are governed by laws and regulations that guarantee statistical confidentiality.

      On the other hand, ten press releases on short-term statistics are sent to a small number of news agencies 30 minutes before the official release time. The statistics in question are as follows: Quarterly National Accounts (QNA), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Preview, Consumer Price Index (CPI) Preview, Labour Force Survey (LFS), Mortgage Statistics, Statistics on Transfer of Property Rights (TPRS), Industrial Production Index (IPI), Industrial Price Index (IPRI) and Housing Price Index (HPI).

      In this case, controls are in place to detect any non-compliance with embargoes, with consequent penalties, all in order to preserve the principles of the European Statistics Code of Practice.

  • Revision policy

    • Revisions in the data are an inherent practice in the production of statistics, for two main types of reasons:

      • Ordinary or routine reviews. For some statistics, where users particularly value the prompt availability of data, initial estimates are published with the expectation that they can be revised and updated when new data become available. This is typical of short-term statistics, such as monthly or quarterly statistics.
      • Major revisions. Revisions are also due to changes in data sources, in concepts, definitions and classifications or due to improved methodological procedures. By their nature, these revisions have a greater impact on the data, although they also occur less frequently.

      There are also other, unplanned, data revisions due to the need to correct errors in previously disseminated statistics. Indeed, despite the quality control procedures and measures taken, errors in published information are inevitable: this leads to unplanned or extraordinary revisions.

      The general INE Revision Policy document approved at the meeting of the Governing Board held on 13 March 2015, establishes common criteria and standards for INE statistics when making revisions to published data, for any of the aforementioned reasons. With the approval of this policy, the INE responds to the requirements of transparency and information to users, recommended in the European Statistics Code of Practice.

      It should be noted that, at the INE, there are specific revision policies for different statistical operations, in some cases defined in the corresponding European regulations. (Details on existing review policies in specific fields can be found on the websites of each set of statistics. A summary of the criteria used is included in the Standardised Methodological Reports - sections 19.1 and 19.2).

      However, a homogeneous global framework establishing common rules and principles for the whole of INE's production was lacking, a gap that is filled by this general Revision Policy document.

  • Other documentation and useful links

Quality monitoring and evaluation system

A quality evaluation and monitoring system composed of a series of instruments and methods to measure the quality of statistical work:

  • Standardised Methodological Reports

    • The INE publishes the Standardised Methodological Reports following the European standard for the communication of methodological characteristics. In fields 11 to 19, these reports show different aspects of the quality of the products and include indicators such as the rate of non-response, size of revisions, variation coefficient, etc.