 |
CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY SECRETARIAT
TWENTY -NINTH MEETING OF THE RESTRICTED
STANDING COMMITTEE OF
CARIBBEAN STATISTICIANS SCCS/2004/29/19
Hamilton, Bermuda
22-24 November 2004 22
November 2004
PROGRESS REPORT
(Submitted by Trinidad and Tobago)
INTRODUCTION
The
Central Statistical Office (CSO) was established in 1952 by the passing of the
Statistics Ordinance, Chapter 42, No. 11 of the Revised Ordinances 1952. The Ordinance was later replaced by the
Statistics Act, Chapter 19:02 of the Revised Laws of the Republic of Trinidad
and Tobago, 1982.
The CSO
as a Government Department reports to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Planning and Development.
The
statement of core purpose is embodied in its mission statement - The mission
of the Central Statistical Office is to facilitate informed decision-making,
through the timely provision of a quality, relevant, user-oriented and dynamic
statistical service, coordinating statistical activities and promoting the
adherence to statistical standards.
Its
vision articulates "The Central Statistical Office is the premier
information and research institution, committed to being a learning and
innovative organization staffed by well motivated personnel and enhanced
through continuous quality improvement, to provide timely, high quality and
relevant goods and services utilizing state of the art technology for customer
satisfaction."
In the
permanent establishment of the CSO there are two hundred and eight-two (282)
posts. In addition there are
seventy-two (75) temporary posts (under delegated authority), and forty-three
(43) officers in the Agricultural Census Unit.
Therefore the staff of the CSO consists of four hundred (400) officers,
one hundred and thirty-two (132) males and two hundred and sixty-eight (268)
females. Of the total staff, thirty-six
(36) are professionals and seventy-five (75) technical officers. Table 1 below
shows the expenditure of the CSO for the fiscal year 2003 - 2005.
Table1:
Central Statistical Office Expenditure, 2003 -2005, TT$
|
|
Year |
||
|
Expenditure |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
|
Personnel |
16,280,000 |
14,938,341 |
16,995,000 |
|
Goods and Services |
4,907,760 |
6,364,263 |
7,497,670 |
|
Minor Equipment |
507,000 |
209,815 |
3,052,500 |
|
Current Transfers |
1,500 |
2,595 |
1,500 |
|
Total Recurrent |
21,696,260 |
21,515,014 |
27,546,670 |
|
Development Programme |
7,546,022 |
9,385,385 |
5,575,000 |
|
Total Expenditure |
29,242,282 |
30,900,399 |
33,121,670 |
Key issues and outcomes for the CSO during the period October 2003 to September 2004 have been:
§ The CSO, Ministry of Planning and Development completed its obligations for the preparation of all metadata for the IMF's General Data Dissemination Standards (GDDS).
§ Conducted 2004 Agricultural Census during the period July 6th to August 15th 2004.
§ Began capturing the Agricultural Census data using state of the art Image Scanning Technology.
§ Started the Post Census Evaluation (PES) and subsistence survey.
§ Held five stakeholders meeting before releasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant 2000 prices. Released the National Income Report 1995 - 2001.
§ Provided GDP estimates 2000 - 2004 at current and constant prices.
§ Supplied data to the various sub-committees of Vision 2020.
§ Revised the Annual Sample Survey of Establishments (ASSE) General Form questionnaire to reflect International Accounting Standards.
§ All ASSE questionnaires were posted on the CSO Web Site in PDF format for easy access by business establishments.
§ Established an Environmental Statistics Unit in the CSO and started compiling a compendium of Environmental Statistics for Trinidad and Tobago.
§ Completed a Topological Inventory of Enumeration Districts profile in Microsoft Access.
§ Completed an internal Map Album, showing Enumeration Districts (ED's) within communities by Municipal Corporation.
§ Provided GIS presentation and professional assistance to sixteen government departments or agencies.
§ Commenced dissemination of the Index of Retail Prices, Trade Statistics and Travel Statistics released on a timely basis.
§ Introduced the Harmonized System Nomenclature Codes HS 2002 in the Trade Data Base. Created a correlation table of approximately 7000 HS Commodity Codes to SITC Rev 3.
§ Completed the Child Indicators Monitoring System Project. Access by external users will be achieved when the IT infrastructure is completed within the CSO.
§ Completed for the 2000 Population and Housing Census the following reports:
(i) Administrative and Methodology Report and;
(ii) Households and Housing Report for the 2000 Population and Housing Census.
1 PROGRESS REPORT FOR OCTOBER 2003 TO SEPTEMBER 2004
1.1
NATIONAL ACCOUNTS
Achievements
The major achievements of the
National Accounts for the period October 2003 to September 2004 are listed
hereunder.
1. The Division with the assistance of
the Acting Director of Statistics has been able to inform a large cross section
of stakeholders about the rationale for the rebasing of the Constant Price of
the Gross Domestic Product from 1985 = 100 to 2000 = 100. This has paved the way for the release of
the National Income Report 1995 - 2001 and the inclusion of these revised
numbers in Review of the Economy, 2004.
2. The Division was able to complete about
90% of its recurrent work during this period.
The unfinished 10% was due to normal data requests received by this
Division on a daily basis. These
include the request for information by private individuals, business
enterprises, Government departments and regional (Caricom) and international
organizations. During this period, the
Division was required to supply information to the Economics Sub Committee of
the 2020 Vision Planning Committee.
3. In addition, commencing in September
2003, the Division began work on a Supply and Use Table for the year 2000. Work continues and at present is about 60%
completed.
4. The Division provided estimates of the
GDP for 2004 at current and constant 2000 prices to the Ministry of Planning
and Development, Ministry of Finance
and International Monetary Fund.
Challenges
The major ongoing challenge
faced by the Division was the frequency of staff changes and a rapid turnover
of staff. Over the period three (3)
vacancies were filled by the employment of 3 Statisticians - Ms. Janine Persad,
Ms. Jovanka Charles and Mr. Nigel Gopaul (who was redeployed from the
Population and Vital Statistics Division).
However, during that same period the Division lost a very experienced
Statistical Officer, Ms. Claire Phillips to the Ministry of Social Development,
and also a Statistical Aide, Mr. Errol Mahon to the Ministry of Labour.
With the limited resources at
its disposal the Division was unable to complete the following:
(a)
Derive
constant price estimates by the process of double deflation.
(b)
Calculate
VAT in constant prices using the deflation method.
(c)
Make
adjustments for holding gains in inventories of finished goods and work in
progress.
(d)
Derive
independent estimates of Private Final Consumption Expenditure.
The National Accounts Division
and by extension the Central Statistical Office needs to become the kind of
Department/Organization in which officers would be motivated or willing to
spend their working life if this exodus of trained professional and technical
staff is to be arrested.
Progress Report October 2003 - September 2004
(i) Completed Final Distribution and Use of Income Accounts and
Final
Consumption
Expenditure for General Government for the year 2000.
(ii) Completed Gross Capital Formation, 2000 for all nineteen
industries.
(iii) Completed rebasing of GDP at constant
prices with 2000 = 100 for the year 1995-2000 for the industries in which
extrapolation was used to derive constant prices. These industries included
Petroleum, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Electricity and Water and Transport,
Storage and Communications.
(iv) Completed the Classification of Functions
of Government for the year 2000 in accordance with SNA 1993. This was a first for the Division. The Industry Specialist Mr. Kameel Mohammed
was able to classify Government Expenditure under the following headings:
(a)
Final
Consumption expenditure.
(b)
Gross
Capital Formation.
(c)
Subsidies.
(d)
Other
current transfers.
(v)
Prepared
final GDP by economic activity estimates for 2001, revised estimates for 2002,
estimates 2003 and provisional estimates 2004 for both current and constant
(2000) prices.
(vi)
Held
five (5) stakeholders meetings during which presentations
were made on the rebasing of
the GDP. Two meetings were held with stakeholders at the Conference Room of the
Central Bank; and another with the Minister of the of Finance; and senior
Cabinet Ministers and Permanent Secretaries and one with the Prime Minister and
several Cabinet Ministers at White Hall.
(vii)
Completed
the Expenditures on the Gross Domestic Product 1995 - 2003 at 2000 constant
prices.
Developmental
Work
On going developmental work
include:
(i)
Tourism
Satellite Accounts.
(ii)
Non
Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) Institutional Sector Accounts.
(iii)
A
Supply and Use Table (SUT) for the year 2000.
Training
Over the period two (2)
members of staff were exposed to overseas training.
(i) Mr. Tyrone Gopaul, Statistician I, attended the training
course
"Statistics for National Accounts" held in Munich
Germany from
March 15th to June 14th, 2004.
(ii)
Ms.
Sally Ann Lucas, Statistician I, attended a three-day workshop on Tourism
Satellite Accounts in Barbados in October 2003.
(iii)
Mr.
Stephen Cockburn attended a course in E-views from 12th August to 18th
October 2004.
(iv)
A
two-day course in Intermediate Microsoft Access attended by Mr. Kameel
Mohammed, Mr. Stephen Cockburn and Mr. Tyrone Gopaul.
(v)
A
Computer Literacy Course that was attended by Mr. Clifford Lewis
and Ms. Marva
Williams.
(vi)
A
three-day course in Effective Communication attended by Mr.
Clifford Lewis and Ms. Marva Williams.
1.1.1 BUSINESS SURVEYS
Achievements
1. For the first time the following tables were published in the Annual Pocket Digest 2002 and also posted on the CSO's Website:
q Number of business establishments by industry grouping.
q Distribution of establishments by geographical codes.
q Number of establishments by employment size and industry.
2. A Committee comprising of members of National Income and Business Surveys revised the Annual Sample Survey of Establishments General Form questionnaire. Emphasis was placed on the Cash Flow Statement and Assets and Liabilities section of the questionnaire to reflect International Accounting Standard (IAS 7). In addition, all the one-page questionnaires, cover letter and information pamphlet were also revised.
3. All 2004 ASSE questionnaires were posted on the Web Site in PDDF format easy access by business establishments.
Challenges
Human
Resources
In the Business Surveys Unit there is a high turnover of staff and this results in low productivity due to the time that is required to obtain the necessary training for staff to perform efficiently and effectively. Officers trained are either promoted or transferred and it takes at least six months to understand the duties and tasks of this unit.
Computer
and Networking
There is the urgent need to
network the Unit to be able to operate in real time and this will eliminate
duplication of effort and increase output significantly. In addition, with computers assigned to all
officers, members of staff can update the Register of Establishments
simultaneously hereby increasing its integrity substantially.
Telephone
System
The telephone system installed
in June 2004 has increased efficiency, but there are still external access
problems being experienced by staff.
This Unit is unique in that all officers need to be in constant
communication with business establishments and this deficiency is a hindrance
to timely completion of duties.
Field Visit
q
Staff
visited Excellent City Centre and completed register update forms for all business
establishments in that location and journeyed to the Chaguaramas peninsula to
complete a similar exercise, which was used to build a yachting database.
Progress Report October 2003 - September 2004
Register Unit
q
The
Register of Establishments was updated daily.
q
A
total of ninety-five (95) data requests from the Register of Establishments
were provided to government departments, ministries, private organizations and
individuals with a total value of $44,965.00.
A total of fifty-eight (58) costs were waived at a value of $22,274.00
and average revenue generated was $22,600.00.
q
All
new monthly VAT registrants received were appended to the database.
The following external
databases were sourced and used to update the Register of Establishments:
·
Credit
Unions
·
NGO's
·
Boater's
Directory
·
TIDCO
exporter of the year
·
NHA
Developers
·
SIBIS
q
For
Tobago all community codes were updated and all TTSIC and TTSNA codes for all
businesses were checked and verified.
q
Provided
National Income industry specialist with industry listings for 2003
sample selection.
q
Closed
off 2003 Register in May 2004, made back up for storage copies in the Computer
Division.
Survey Unit
q
First,
second and third reminders for ASSE 2002 were dispatched.
q
Placed
Newspaper advertisements which were sourced through the Ministry of Public
Administration after each reminder was dispatched.
q
Updated
daily the database for 2001, 2002 and 2003 Annual Sample Survey Establishments
(ASSE).
q
Liaise
daily with business establishments and responded to their requests immediately
(for questionnaires or any other queries).
q
Prepared
status reports for all field officers every two weeks or upon office visits.
q
Prepared
quarterly response rate reports for field officers.
q
Prepared
for the 2003 ASSE the following:
Built database
Provide listings for all field
officers to make sample selections
Tagged all sample
selections using the Register Unit Database
Populated
database
Prepared labels
Prepared and
dispatched survey questionnaires during the period 16th - 23rd
July 2004.
The Editing Unit
q Received weekly questionnaires from Survey Unit.
q Updated on a daily basis database to record movement of all questionnaires.
q Edited all questionnaires received for 2001, 2002 and 2003 ASSE.
2001 - 1240 edited
2002 - 866 edited
q Updated the Register Unit database with all edited questionnaires before passing to National Income industry specialist.
Seminars/Conferences/Courses
|
Course |
Place
|
Duration |
No. of Persons Attended |
|
Understanding Financial Statements |
CSO
|
27th January
4:30 pm - 6:00 p.m. |
Business Surveys, National
Income and Business Surveys Field Staff |
|
Intermediate Microsoft Access |
ROYTEC
|
26th & 27th
February 2004 |
Business Surveys Staff |
|
Towards Sustainable Use of
Caribbean's Renewable Resources" |
Trinidad Hilton |
8th - 10th
March 2004 |
Joann Wellington Sherry Ann Persad |
|
Effective Supervision |
ROYTEC |
14th & 15th April 2004 |
Ms. Tara Sahadeo Ms. Sherry Ann Persad |
|
Cash Flow Statement |
CSO |
Tuesday 4th May
2004 |
National Income Business
Surveys Field |
1.1.2 ENVIRONMENTAL UNIT
Progress Report October 2003 - September 2004
The Environmental Unit was established during the first quarter of 2004 and consists of the following members:
Sherry Ann Persad
Joann Wellington
Harold Wall
q Created a list of stakeholders and established contact with relevant personnel in each agency.
q Established contact with the United Nations in New York for assistance with the environment project.
q Two officers attended symposium "Towards Sustainable Use of Caribbean's Renewable Marine and Wildlife Resources" at the Trinidad Hilton and Conference Centre on 8th - 10th March, 2004.
April 2004 - June 2004
q Held inaugural meeting with all environment stakeholders on May 3rd 2004.
q Project plan for unit established for both the short and long term.
q Maintained continuous contact with agencies to obtain data for the United Nations Questionnaire on Environmental Statistics, 2004.
q Commenced data collection for Compendium of Environmental Statistics.
July 2004 - September 2004
q The second stakeholders meeting was held on the 8th July 2004 and the tables to be included in the compendium were discussed.
q Established contact and provided documentation for additional stakeholders identified.
q Liaise with all environmental stakeholders in order to complete the United Nations Questionnaire on Environmental Statistics, 2004.
q Continued compilation of data that exist within the CSO for the Compendium.
q Third meeting of stakeholders was held on 15th September and the following Chapters discussed:
§ Chapter 1 Introduction
§ Chapter 2 Economy
§ Chapter 11 Air and Climate
§ Chapter 12 Natural disasters
1.2
ECONOMIC STATISTICS DIVISION
The Economic Statistics Division comprise the following Sections:
(a) Economic Indicators
(b) Trade and Travel Statistics
Trade Statistics Customs House (Editing and Coding)
Trade Statistics Head Office (Data Integration and Dissemination)
Travel Statistics (MIST) (Data Processing)
Travel Statistics (Date Integration and Dissemination)
(c) Tourism Statistics
Mr. Dave Clement, Senior
Statistician, Economic Statistics Division who was on Leave of Absence resumed
duties in January 2004. He replaced Ms.
Carol Salim, Statistician 11, who was promoted to Acting Senior Statistician
Population, Social and Vital Statistics Division. Mr. Ashley Samodee, Statistical Assistant 1 resigned with effect
from June 30, 2004. A replacement for
this officer is yet to be obtained.
Achievements
1. The Economic Statistics Division has
been successful in clearing the backlog that had persisted in the processing
and reporting of the Index of Retail Prices, Trade Statistics and Travel
Statistics. These subject areas are
organized and carefully monitored to ensure continued timely dissemination.
2. A Memorandum of Understanding was
signed between the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and the Ministry of
Planning and Development to provide support to the CSO in the computation of
the Index of Retail Prices through the establishment of a Prices Unit within
the Economic Indicators Section.
Cabinet Note 1853-2004/07/01 agreed to the creation of two (2) positions
of Price Intelligence Officers for a period of eight (8) months subject to
Terms and Conditions to be set by the Chief Personnel Office (CPO).
3. The new Common External Tariff approved
by CARICOM and based on the Revised Harmonized System Nomenclature of Codes HS
2002 was introduced by the Customs Department in January 2004. The staff of the Trade Statistics Section
(Head Office) undertook a manual exercise to develop a correlation table
relating the approximately 7000 HS Commodity Codes to the SITC REV 3 to
facilitate the computer processing of the trade data that was being captured
using the tariff codes.
4.
The
Division completed its obligations for the preparation of the metadata component of the IMF's General Data
Dissemination Standards (GDDS).
5. The Economic Statistics Division hosted
a Press conference to announce the release of the Carnival Report and to inform
the public of the new policy of simultaneous release of data in keeping with
the requirements of the General Data Dissemination Standards (GDDS).
Challenges
The Division continues to be plagued by the problem of inadequate and inappropriate staffing and the non-availability of computer equipment. These problems persist as the main challenges to the timely delivery of quality statistics. The Economic Statistics Division formerly enjoyed the services of experienced senior statistical officers but must now get by, for the most part, with Statistical Aides and Temporary Clerical Assistants whose low remuneration and temporary status result in frequent staff turnover, low morale and consequent low productivity. The obsolete equipment is another problem and has been a source of frustration at times, for the hardworking and committed staff of the Economic Indicators Section who lost data because of malfunctioning equipment. The Travel Section (MIST) needs additional computers to increase the number of persons processing the Arrival ED Card and to commence processing of the Departure ED Card, while the Trade Sections and the Tourism Section need at least two computers each to enable them to function properly.
The Computer Division, faced with its own challenges and resource constraints has not been able to provide the level of support that the subject matter sections require. Finally, the response rate to the Survey of Domestic Production and other surveys continue to deteriorate. The Economic Statistics Division reiterates its request for a dedicated field staff under the control and supervision of the Head of the Division.
Seminars/Conferences/Courses
|
Course |
Place |
Duration |
No. of Person Attended |
|
Computer Literacy Course |
YTEPP
|
30 Contact Hours |
Sally Bankay Sherma Haynes Floyd |
|
Microsoft Access with VBA |
ROYTEC
|
26 - 27 Feb. 2004 |
Dave Clement Deedra Welch Nadine Isaac |
|
MIST Training |
CSO |
Two days |
|
|
Effective Supervision |
ROYTEC |
17 - 18 Feb. 2004 |
|
|
E-Views |
SALISES |
10 days |
Andre Blanchard Sharlene Jaggarnath |
|
EUROTRACE Workshop |
CARTAC/EUROSTAT |
20 -24 Sept. 2004 |
Dave Clement Camille Kassie |
Progress Report: October 2003
- September 2004
(a) Economic Indicators
(i) Index of Retail Prices (Rebased: January 2003 = 100)
The Index of Retail Prices was compiled monthly for the period September 2003 to August 2004 and dispatched to the Government Printers for publication in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette. The last published Index of Retail Prices related to the month of August 2004. The backlog in the preparation and publication of this report has been eliminated and the report is now being prepared on schedule.
(ii) Index of Retail Prices of Building Materials (Base: Average of 4 Qtrs. 1996 = 100)
Indices for the period 4th Quarter 2003 to 3rd Quarter 2004 have been prepared and released.
(iii) Index of Retail Sales (Base: Average of 4 Qtrs. 2000 = 100)
Indices for four quarters - 3rd Quarter 2003 to 2nd Quarter 2004 have been compiled and released.
(iv) Index of Domestic Production
The timeliness of this index has been affected by a poor response rate and the non-availability of support staff to assist the Statistical Officer 11. The Domestic Production Index and its related indices have been completed for the four quarters of 2003. Work is currently in progress on the indices for the 1st Quarter 2004.
(b) Trade Statistics
(i) Trade Bulletin
Bulletins have been prepared monthly and published from the period July 2003 to April 2004. In January 2004 the revised CARICOM Common External Tariff based on HS 2002 was introduced. The introduction required adjustments to the programs for the processing of the Trade Statistics. As a consequence, the timeliness of the preparation of the reports has been affected. Nonetheless, the data capture of the customs declarations carrying the revised commodity codes has continued and is up to date.
(ii) Index of Average Unit Value of Overseas Trade
Indices have been prepared for all quarters of 2003 and for the first and second quarters of 2004.
(c) Travel Statistics
(i) Monthly Travel Bulletin
During the
period monthly bulletins have been prepared for July 2003 to June 2004. At present there is a two-month lag in the
data capture of the Embarkation/Dis-embarkation cards obtained from the
Immigration Department. There is need for an
additional computer and data
processor to boost the team involved in the processing of the Arrival
Embarkation/Dis-Embarkation Cards.
There is also a need for (3) three operators and three computers to
begin the processing of the departure cards.
(ii)
Annual Travel
Report
The publication of this report has been
interrupted. Plans are underway to
re-introduce the Annual Travel Report in 2005.
(d)
Tourism
Statistics
(i)
Survey of
Departing Visitors
The regular series of Surveys of Departing
Visitors were conducted in Trinidad.
The Tobago Surveys were deliberately halted to allow for a revision of
the survey logistics. A report has been
prepared for 2002 but is yet to be edited.
Data for the 2003 surveys have been captured and edited but the
production of the statistical tables is ongoing. Additions to the questionnaire in 2004 have required substantial
amendments to the programs for processing the data and this has affected the
compilation of statistical tables.
(e) Carnival
Survey Report 2004
The Carnival Survey of Departing Visitors was
conducted from Ash Wednesday for a ten-day period. Changes to the questionnaire caused some delay in the speedy
release of the results. The report was
compiled and a sample of the statistical tables was published on the department's web
site. The Report is in the final stages of editing prior to publication.
Developmental Work
The CSO has signed an agreement with the
International Labour Organization to develop a program of Occupation and Wages
Statistics. This exercise will be
conducted in the 4th quarter 2004 and continue into the 1st
and 2nd quarters of 2005.
1.3 AGRICULTURE STATISTICS
The Agricultural Statistics Division in
collaboration with the Agricultural Census Unit was able to accomplish the
following:
Achievements
1. Conducted weekly meetings to coordinate Census and Post Census activities.
2. Conducted intensive training on all aspects of the 2004 Agriculture Census in particularly training of field supervisors and enumerators.
3. Conducted the field enumeration of the 2004 Agriculture Census during the period July/August 2004.
4. Successfully conducted an in-house training for all agricultural field officers and field staff.
5. Designed and conducted the Post Census Evaluation and Home Use Production Survey.
Challenges
The following were the challenges encountered in accomplishing the work programme:
·
Lack of
equipment.
·
Too much
bureaucracy to overcome, from the parent Ministry and external government
agencies.
·
Difficulties in
getting the Central Statistical Office staff to embrace the new technology in
Scanning.
·
Difficulty in
the timely disbursement of funds.
·
Shortage of
staff and loss of key experienced staff.
·
A new culture
change needs to be instilled in the Central Statistical Office. Training and re-engineering of the
operational processes could achieve this.
·
The
Administration should be more proactive in providing the necessary staff and
support to the various departments. The
complete overhauling of the Administration needs to be done.
Progress
Report: October 2003 - September 2004
(a) Food
Crop Survey
During the period October 2003 - September 2004 two
Food Crop Surveys were conducted for the periods September 2003 - October 2003
and November 2003 - December 2003. No
surveys were conducted for the periods January/February, March/April, May/June
and July/August 2004 due to the 2004 Agriculture Census and the Post Evaluation
Survey enumeration activities.
(b) Quarterly
Pig Production Survey
Data have been collected and processed for the 4th
Quarter 2003. The 1st and 2nd
Quarter 2004 Surveys were suspended due to the 2004 Agricultural Census
enumeration activities.
(c) Poultry
Production Survey
Data have been collected and processed for the period
November/December 2003. A Bulletin has
been prepared and composed but not released.
No Surveys were conducted for the periods
January/February, March/April, May/June and July/August 2004 due to the
enumeration activities of the 2004 Agricultural Census.
(d) Other
Surveys
Data have been updated for all other surveys
up to 1st Quarter 2004.
Data collected includes: -
Ø
Cocoa and coffee deliveries to principal exporters.
Ø
Citrus deliveries to co-operative Citrus Growers Association.
Ø
Copra deliveries to Coconut Growers Association.
Ø
Slaughtering of animals at private and municipal abattoirs.
Ø
Milk deliveries to Trinidad Food Products including milk production and
dispositions from large farms to both the Government and Private Sectors.
Ø
Agro-chemicals, production, sales and exports.
Ø
Feed production.
Ø
Sugar production and exports.
Ø
Hatcheries and Broiler Processors obtained from the Ministry of
Agriculture.
(e) Agricultural
Report, 2003
Work was temporarily suspended on the preparation of
the 2003 Agriculture Report due to the 2004 Agriculture Census.
(f) 2004
Agricultural Census
During the period January/September 2004 the entire
staff of the Agriculture Statistics Division was involved in assisting the
Agricultural Census Unit in the planning, implementation and execution of the
2004 Agriculture Census and the Post Evaluation Survey.
Seminars, Conferences and Training
- Member of staff attended FAO Conference on Agriculture
Census in Mexico in December 2003, for one week.
- In-house training of field staff during September 2004,
for a two-week period.
Developmental Work
- Small ruminant survey for Trinidad and Tobago.
- Food
Crop survey in Tobago.
- Revision of the entire Food Crop
survey methodology.
- The re-design of all surveys to cater for Optical
Recognition thereby facilitating the speedier dissemination of data.
1.4 POPULATION, SOCIAL AND VITAL STATISTICS
The
Population, Social and Vital Statistics Division comprise the following
Sections:
a. Vital Statistics
b. Education Statistics
c. Social Statistics
d. Library, Publication and Information
e. Continuous Sample Survey of Population (CSSP).
Achievements
i. The Child Indicators Monitoring System Project has been completed but would not be operating as envisaged until the networked environment is created in the CSO.
ii. Completed the 1999 and 2000 Vital Statistics Reports.
iii. Completed the CXC Examination Results report, 1996-2002.
iv. Completed the 2003 Pocket Digest and a draft of the 2000 ASD report.
Challenges
The three major challenges facing the Division are the improvement of data quality with particular emphasis on timeliness, the lack of resources and the changing of the organizational culture.
(i)
Improvement of Data Quality
.
Education Statistics
The coverage of Education statistics needs to be widened to include, private primary and private secondary schools and tertiary institutions. The responsibility for the collection of statistics on education has been that of the Ministry of Education and more recently in collaboration with Ministry of Science and Technology. The Central Statistical Office can only agitate or use moral suasion to push this point home. In addition, the collection of data on public and public assisted schools faces a serious non-response problem. Sometimes, response for the 2000 survey for some schools is being used to represent 2001 and 2002. Meetings, requests and /or networking only receive promises.
The coverage of examination results to include Cambridge and London examinations is being addressed.
Vital Statistics
There continues to be a problem with the great number of returns with missing entries (particularly addresses) and outstanding returns which have to be copied from the Registrar General Department.
That Department has computerized its records (births, deaths, marriages and Muslim divorces) and had agreed to have a system in place whereby other government departments would have been able to access their database from their respective offices. Systems should be put in place, to capitalize on this, thus eliminating the manual extraction presently being done. (Over 400 outstanding / missing births and deaths returns for 2001, had to be copied from the records at that Department.)
The District Registrars have expressed extreme dissatisfaction over the meagre allowance currently being paid to them for collecting the births and deaths returns. (In the case of the births, they are required to conduct an interview with the mother / informant.) And even though a meeting was convened with the Registrar General Department and the Central Statistical Office to rectify this problem, to date the situation remains the same. If the Registrars were to be better compensated, the quality of the data may improve.
The methodology for calculating the mid-year estimates of population has been used since at least 1967. Recently, the Vision 2020 Sub Committee on Population queried its impact on the 0 - 4 population. The view was expressed that based on the number of births over any five-year period, the 0 - 4 populations could never be reduced by the extent currently shown, despite the fact that there would have been some deaths in that age group. Some serious assessment has to be made as to the reliability of the current methodology and whether there is the need to incorporate new computer software to generate more accurate population estimates.
The current methodology provides data only up to the 65+ age group. With the current emphasis on providing for the elderly, the methodology should be revised to include data up to the 80+ age group.
In addition, a decision has to be taken as to whether the mid-year estimates should be compiled by Municipalities and the effective year of implementation. To date, the Ministries of Health and Education, and some of the main users of the data still use the County /Ward as administrative areas.
The compilation of tables on passenger departures has been suspended by the Trade /Travel Section for several years now. This is one of the variables used to estimate the external migration of the population, when calculating the mid year population estimates. While some attempts are made to estimate passenger departures, the figure supplied by the Travel Section, seemed unrealistic and could not be used. Again, some serious consideration has to be given as to the best approach to obtain this important variable.
The internal migration data obtained from the C.S.S.P. Section has displayed some erratic movements. There may be the need to improve the data quality by conducting a separate internal migration survey to obtain the data.
The Systems Analyst, working on vital statistics has recommended that the existing computer programs used to generate the vital statistics tables be rewritten, because of the recurring problems encountered.
(ii) Lack of Resources
Social Statistics
International and regional initiatives have created the need for the production of a wider range of social statistics. There is one Statistician 1 in the Unit to handle CIMS, SMDG, Crime, and Gender Bulletins and supervise the production of the traffic bulletins. This Division has progressively lost staff without any replacement; hence the timely production of social statistics is no longer a challenge but impossibility. An attempt to deal with this problem was to treat with one of these areas as a project under the PSIP. Approval is critical if all the areas mentioned above continue to be included in the work programme
Crime statistics formats required under the new initiatives aimed at widening the range of social statistics do not conform to the formats of the data collected by Police Division. Various meetings to address this issue indicate that there are no resources within the Police Department to satisfy this demand.
(iii) Changing the Organizational Culture
Punctuality, absenteeism, abuse of time-off and on-the-job liming have been addressed both at a group and at an individual level. To date, there is a noticeable difference and certain members of staff who are being monitored have been complimented for their efforts.
CSSP
Main factors affecting the accomplishment of the work program of the CSSP subject matter section are:
- The instability of its human resource, with respect to the rapid turn over of staff in the section.
- Threat to the maintenance of the CSSP Labour Force survey due to unsatisfactory performance of the main computer equipment in the section.
- The timeliness of the dissemination of labour force statistics due largely to the untimely return of survey schedules from the Field Staff on account of the poor conduct of field activities particularly by some officers of the North CSSP Field section.
Progress Report October 2003 - September 2004
(a) Vital Statistics
· Published the Population and Vital Statistics Report, 1999.
· Finalized the Population and Vital Statistics Report, 2000. It is now at the Editor.
· Completed the 2001 outstanding birth and death returns. The error lists were corrected and some additional checks are being instituted on the death tables.
· Received and reviewed for consistency the 2001 tables on marriages and divorces.
· Edited, coded, batched and dispatched for data capture, 10,278 birth returns - representing approximately 75 % of the 2003 returns and 10,009 death returns about 83% of the returns for 2003.
· Prepared the control totals for both births and deaths for 2002 and 2003.
· Extracted all marriages for 2002 and prepared the controls / summary.
· Extracted all divorces up to July 2004.
· Prepared the internal migration data for 2001 and 2002 for the mid year population estimates.
· Work continued with the copying of the outstanding / missing death returns for 2002 and 2003 from the Registrar General's Department.
· Handled queries and data requests.
(b) Education Statistics
· Completed all of the Secondary School Tables, as well as all other tables needed for the 2001/2002 Education Report.
· Submitted all Primary School Questionnaires 2002/2003, for data capture by the Computer Division.
· Began construction of Secondary School Tables for the 2002/2003 Education Report
· Began editing and coding of both Primary and Secondary School Questionnaires 2003/2004.
· Commenced publication of the CXC Report, 1996-2002.
(c)
Social Statistics
· Crime Statistics
Submitted crime report, 2000-2002 for printing.
Collected and compiled data for Crime Report, 2003.
·
Millennium
Development Goals (SIMDG)
Data collected for the period 1998-2002. Submitted to CARICOM tables on Education, Work, Population and Decision Making.
·
Child
Indicators Monitoring System (CIMS)
Completed Second Phase of this project
Undertook training of staff at CSO and relevant Ministries
Prescribed the Final Report of Phase II at stakeholders' workshop
·
Traffic Statistics
Published first quarter 2004 Traffic Bulletin
Collected and compiled data for second quarter 2004.
·
Gender Statistics
Collected and compiled gender statistics for Gender Bulletin.
(d) Library
Mailed reports and bulletins, prepared by Divisions during the reference period.
Catalogued and indexed all new publications received.
Library records maintained.
Provided to members of the public services of the Library.
(e) Publications and Information Services
Distributed the Annual Statistical Digest 2000 and the 2001 report is being adjusted for changes recommended by the Head of Division.
The Pocket Digest 2003 is being printed for dissemination.
Prepared all relevant job cards and press releases.
Provided Information services to the public.
(f) Continuous Sample Survey of Population
Released the Labour Force Bulletins for the third and fourth quarters 2003 and the first quarter 2004. The proposed draft of the second quarter, 2004 is being finalized.
·
Quarterly Labour Force
Bulletin
The non-response rates for the fourth quarter, 2003, the first quarter, 2004 and the second quarter, 2004 were 12.6%, 9.8% and 14.8% respectively. These non-response rates are much higher than those obtained prior to the year 2003. Tighter monitoring of CSSP Field activities must be instituted without delay.
·
Annual Labour Force
Report
All tables and charts for the CSSP Annual Labour Force Report 2003 have already been generated. Quality control measures, for example, proof reading of all materials and the examination of data for accuracy, are currently being under taken for the report. Meanwhile, the completed material for the CSSP Annual Labour Force Report 2002 is currently at the printers.
·
CSSP Labour Force Meta
Data
The meta data of the CSSP Labour Force Household Survey, based on current CSSP sample design, methodology, and data dissemination practices were developed for the IMF GDDS. The meta data also contain plans for the improving the questionnaire to allow for addressing the concept of "willingness and ability to work" as well as the concept of "voluntary unemployment".
·
Participation
in Meetings of Cabinet Appointed Committees
During the period under review, the Section attended and contributed to discussions held in Cabinet appointed committees, the Labour Market Council and the Labour Market Information sub-committee of the Labour Market Council, and the Living Standard Measurement Survey Committee.
· Special Exercises
The CSSP staff provided assistance to government and quasi-governmental agencies, researchers and students in the conduct of sample surveys. They were provided with samples selections, ED maps, survey interviewers and other technical support as requested.
1.5
COMPUTER DIVISION
Progress
Report October 2003 - September 2004
(a) Trade System
This system consists of the following sub-systems.
§ Trade Bulletin
§ Average Unit Value Index
§ S.T.A.R.R. (System for Trade Ad Hoc Request Report Generation).
§ T.I.D.C.O. Exporter of the year
§ Unit Rate
§ Annual Overseas (Part A)
§ Annual Overseas (Part B)
§ Annual Overseas (Part C)
Trade
Bulletin and Quarterly Reports
(i) Bulletin
Tables for July 2003 to December 2003 were completed.
(ii) Bulletin
Tables for January 2004 to June 2004 were completed.
(iii) Top
20 items - Imports/Exports - July 2003 - June 2004.
(iv) Imports/Exports
- 2001 and 2002 - Annual Data (Publication & Information).
(v)
Imports/Exports - January -
June 2003 (Publication & Information request).
(vi)
Imports/ Exports 2003
(Caricom request)
(vii)
The Quarterly Reports for 3rd
quarter and 4th quarter 2003 for Citrus, Meat and Cocoa were
completed.
(b) T.I.D.C.O. Exporter of the Year Award
(i) Table for the Prime Minister's Exporter of the Year award 2003 were completed on time.
(ii) Two new categories were included: Tobago Exporter of the Year and Female Exporter of the Year.
(c) Average Unit Value Index
Average Unit value indices for Imports and Exports for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2003 were completed.
(d) Unit Rate
Unit rate tables were generated for Imports and Exports for
April -
June 2003.
(e) Travel System
Using the Caribbean Organization Management System for Tourism (CTO-MIST) for the following completed:
1) The data for the period July 2003 to June 2004 were cleaned and the relevant tables produced.
2) The database was backed-up on a weekly basis.
(f) Vital Statistics
The following tables were completed:
(i) Divorces 2001
(ii) Marriages 2001
(iii) Deaths 2001
(g) Foreign
Visitors
(i) Control
totals for August 2003, October 2003 and December 2003 were completed.
(h) Agriculture System
(i) Developed Data Entry Applications for Small Ruminants Survey
(ii) Developed Data Entry Applications for Agriculture Holdings, Tobago
(i) Food
Crop
Tables for June 2003, August 2003, and October
2003 were completed.
(j) 1990 Population and Housing Census Data
Several internal and external data requests were completed.
(k) 2000 Population and Housing Census
Data
(i) Data entry and validation was completed. Tables were generated for the following categories:
· Demographic Characteristics
· Disability
· Chronic Illnesses
· Education
· Economic Activity
· Fertility
· Income
· Time Spent on Unpaid Household and Other Activities
· Crime
(ii) REDATAM+SP hierarchical database was created and tested. This
database is to facilitate the processing of ad hoc data requests
(iii) Acting Systems Analyst II of Ministry of Trade developed the
REDATAM Web Server Application.
(iv) Several internal and external data requests were completed.
(l) Website
A continuous update of the following web pages was undertaken:
(i) Business Surveys
(ii) Retail Price Index
(iii) Travel Statistics/Travel Press Release/Carnival
(m) Primary Education
Tables for 2002 were completed for the following categories:
(i) Total Enrollment
(ii) Dropouts
(iii) Repeaters
(iv) Teachers
(v) Transfers
(vi) Secondary Entrance Examination (S.E.A.)
(n) Miscellaneous
(i) Daily, fortnightly and monthly backups were completed on the two (2) servers.
(ii) Updating of Trade database at intervals.
(iii) Deleting of unwanted files.
(iv) A data request for Household Budgetary Survey data was completed for the University of the West Indies.
(v) Compiled an inventory of Computer Hardware within Computer
Division.
(o) Training
(i) Three (3) day workshop in CIMS (May 18 -20, 2004)
(ii) One (1) day workshop in Crystal Reports (August 10, 2004)
(iii) Three (3) day workshop in REDATAM (August 16 - 18, 2004)
(iv) Five day training in Visual Basic (November 17 - 21, 2003)
(p) AD HOC REQUESTS
Approximately 539 requests were completed for the period October 2003 - September 2004.
Costing of Ad - Hoc Data Requests for the period October 2003 - September 2004
|
MONTH |
CHARGES APPLIED TT$ |
CHARGES WAIVED TT$ |
|
October 2003 |
2,765.00 |
2,170.00 |
|
November 2003 |
5,060.00 |
1,400.00 |
|
December 2003 |
965.00 |
1,765.00 |
|
January 2004 |
2,785.00 |
1,95000 |
|
February 2004 |
2,450.00 |
1,725.00 |
|
March 2004 |
3,550.00 |
3,485.00 |
|
April 2004 |
3,460.00 |
1,175.00 |
|
May 2004 |
1,430.00 |
1,350.00 |
|
June 2004 |
350.00 |
3,870.00 |
|
July 2004 |
1,320.00 |
1,090.00 |
|
August 2004 |
1,620.00 |
2,375.00 |
|
September 2004 |
2,800.00 |
2,725.00 |
|
TOTAL |
$28,555.00 |
$25,080.00 |
1.5.1 COMPOSING UNIT
Hereunder is a list of Publications, Reports, Bulletins and other miscellaneous jobs done by the Composing Unit for the period October 2003 - September 2004.
(a) Publications/Reports
Vital Statistics 2000
CSSP Report, 1998-2000 and 1999-2001 (Corrections)
CSSP Report 2000-2002
QAR 1998-2002
Crime Statistics Report 2000-2001
Annual Statistical Digest 2000 (Corrections)
Pocket Digest 2002
CSSP Report 2000-2002 - Corrections
Tourism Report 2002 -Final Print
Crime Statistics Report 2001-2002 (Final Print)
QAR Report - 1999-2003 - Draft
Child Indicators Monitoring System (CIMS) Report
Vital Statistics 2000 - (Late Births)
CSSP Labour Force Report 2001 - 2003
ASD 2001- Final Print
Education Statistics (CXC Results - 1996-2001) - Final Print
Education Statistics Secondary Schools Tables 16-34 - 2002/2003
(b) Bulletins
Pig Farmers Bulletin 3rd Quarter, 2003
Poultry Bulletin - September and November, 2003
Monthly Trade Statistics - June, July, August September October, 2003
Road Traffic Accidents -
2nd Qtr. 2003
Traffic Bulletin - Jan-Dec, 2002
Traffic Bulletin 1st Qtr. 2003
Visitor Expenditure Survey
(c) Census Documents
2004
Agriculture Census Documents
Enumerator's Manual - General Instructions,
Part I & II
Census Training Manual
Editors and Coders Manual
Instructions to Editors and Coders
General
Instructions to Enumerators
Supervisor's Manual
Systems Progress Report
Food Crop Codes
Training Schedule
Zone Coordinator Form
Miscellaneous Forms
Agricultural Census I.D. Card
Census Appointment Forms
Training Schedule
Certificate of Completion
Conversion Tables
Junior Agriculture Questionnaire
School Competition
(d) 2004 Agriculture Census Documents -
Corrections
·
Appointments as
Zone Co-ordinator, Enumerator
·
Household
Listing Record - Coding System for Statistical Assistant Interviews
·
Post Census
Evaluation Form
·
Oath of Secrecy
Form
·
Appointments as
Zone Co-ordinator, Enumerator
·
Household Listing
Record - Coding System for Stat. Assistant Interviews
(e) Business Surveys Questionnaires
·
General Form
(Long and Short Forms)
·
Private
Educational Institutions
·
Transport Form
·
Petroleum
Distribution
·
Gas Exploration
·
General
Form (Instructions)
·
Hotels and
Guest Houses (Instructions)
(f) Miscellaneous
EDP Control Clerk Monthly Reports - October, November, 2003
EDP Annual Report October-September, 2003
SUT Data for 2000
Purchases from Domestic Production
The Rebasing of the GDP
Notes on Absorption Matrix
Schematic Diagram of Prices Data Base
Composing of Reports By Subject Matter Section
Form - Request for Invoice Order
Errata - CSSP; ASD 2000
Justification for Increasing the Statistical Birth Returns
Responding to the Demands of 2020 Vision by C. Lewis
Commodity Analysis of Domestic Output
Commodity Analysis of Retained Imports
Appendix XI
Overtime Work - Printing Unit
Position Description for Staff
Agriculture Census Planning Unit Organizational Chart/ EDP Division
The Use of Double Deflation to Derive Constant Prices
T&T Immigration E.D. Card
(g) 2000 Population Census
·
Final Household
and Housing Report
·
Population
Housing Tables
·
Final
Demographic Report
·
Demographic
Tables
·
Economic
Activity
1.5.2 ILLUSTRATION
(i) Covers were designed for the following
· Agriculture Report
· Pocket Digest
· Travel Publication
· National Income Publication
· Agriculture Census
· Agriculture Census Manuals
· Education Statistics
(ii) Charts were designed for the following
· CSSP Bulletin and Publication
· Travel Section
· Education Statistics
· Annual Statistical Digest and Pocket Digest
· Social Statistics - Accident
· Social Statistics - Crime
· Vital Statistics
· Business Survey
(iii)
Designed
and produced all the advertising brochures, flyers, posters, press release and
logos for the 2004 Agricultural Census.
(iv)
Edit
brochures for Business Survey