Wrong data means wrong policy.

Speaking about the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Statistics, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong emphasized: “If the data is wrong, the decisions and policies will be wrong. In reality, everyone has stumbled upon this.”

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong speaks about the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Statistics.

Speaking at the meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the morning of October 9 on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Statistics, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong emphasized: " If the data is wrong, the decisions and policies will be wrong. In fact, everyone has stumbled upon this."

According to Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong, his work experience shows that the reliability of current statistical data is not high, but many times there is no other choice but to use it. Improving the quality of statistical data is the most important task of this draft law.

Sharing this opinion, Chairman of the National Defense, Security and Foreign Affairs Committee Le Tan Toi cited the example of the results of the population census, which had a huge difference between the national statistics agency and the police agency. Mr. Toi also worried about the requirement to protect information confidentiality in statistical activities as well as the effectiveness when there are 2 national databases: 1 built, managed and operated by the Ministry of Public Security and 1 proposed by the draft to be built and managed by the Ministry of Finance.

Commenting on the draft law, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasized: "Amending the Law on Statistics must make an important contribution to economic growth. To do so, we must increase digitalization and apply artificial intelligence (AI)."

Previously, in the audit report, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai also acknowledged: "Regarding the application of technology and digital transformation, the Committee proposed to continue perfecting the legal framework in the direction of enhancing professional independence, transparency of statistical processes and promoting the application of administrative data to ensure that the statistical system meets management requirements and international integration."

Accepting the explanation, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang affirmed that the application of technology and digital transformation is a consistent content in the draft. Regarding the national statistical database, the Minister said that Clause 3 of Article 51b clearly stipulates: "When connecting and sharing data, it is necessary to ensure confidentiality, information security and privacy according to the provisions of law". This is a direct, principled provision, requiring activities related to this important database to comply with legal provisions on security and privacy.

Regarding the population census, Minister Nguyen Van Thang said that the recent process of paying out 100,000 VND gifts to people also showed that data discrepancies are difficult to avoid; however, statistics have scientific methods and standards to minimize the difference between reality and collected data. "The Ministry of Finance will study and absorb the best use of available administrative data, ensuring the effectiveness of the database, especially with indicators related to many sectors and fields," Minister Nguyen Van Thang emphasized.

The draft abolishes regulations related to "district level" and replaces them with "commune level" or "grassroots level". Accordingly, regulations on district-level statistical information systems and statistical indicators will be replaced by commune-level statistical information systems and statistical indicators.

In the direction of decentralization and delegation of power, the authority to decide on conducting national statistical surveys is adjusted from the Prime Minister to the Minister of Finance. Ministers and heads of central agencies are allowed to adjust and supplement assigned national statistical surveys. The head of the central statistical agency decides to conduct statistical surveys under the national survey program implemented by the Ministry of Finance.

The draft also supplements and amends many contents to meet practical requirements and international integration. Accordingly, the Central Statistical Office under the Ministry of Finance is given the additional function of "forecasting and developing short-term, medium-term and long-term macroeconomic scenarios". At the same time, this agency also plays the role of a center for connecting, integrating and managing the national statistical database. The time for appraising statistical survey plans, statistical indicator systems, and statistical reporting regimes is shortened from 20 days to 10 days to speed up progress and increase timeliness.

MR. PHUONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/so-lieu-sai-at-chinh-sach-sai-post817092.html