A new Act integrating all government data utilising modern technology replacing the current Statistics Ordinance and the Census Ordinance is expected to be enacted in Parliament, according to the Director General of the Department of Census and Statistics, Anoja Senevirstne who announced that it would be shortly submitted to Parliament.
She noted that the new Act has been drafted according to the instructions given by international organizations following the methods for the development of statistics.
She said that the Department of Census and Statistics will have access to the data systems of other government institutions.
However, Seneviratne said that the department is bound for the security and confidentiality of the data obtained from another party.
Director General Anoja Seneviratne also said:
“We have also started the new trend of using data generated as a by-product of other administrative work. This is a trend that exists in the world. A new Statistics Act is being brought in to replace the Statistics Ordinance and the Census Ordinance for that purpose.
For example, through this, we can exchange data collected by ministries like Agriculture, Health, Education and use it for statistics. Then we will not need to conduct surveys for everything else. We only have to conduct surveys for things that cannot be collected like that. There is a department as a statistics agency. Instead, everyone is added to this system. All other institutions are added.
The Ministry of Health can do that for their administrative work. But it can create very important statistics. The Police Department has details about crimes in the country. Then there are international standards related to making it a statistical document. By using them and bringing the data to one place and improving its quality, the cost of providing it will be reduced. That is our hope.
Some institutions do not use the data at all. It may not be important to them. But it is important data for another institution. For example, the Registrar General’s Department registers births, deaths, and marriages. But that information is important for the country to create many indicators. That data is important for making many decisions about health.”