Page 53 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 1

IPS55 Maria João S. et al.
The EP uses official statistics in the drafting of its numerous reports and
opinions. It has a dedicated service to draft many of those reports, studies and
1
opinions - the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) .

The EPRS mission is to provide Members of the European Parliament and
parliamentary committees with independent, objective and authoritative
analysis of, and research on, policy issues relating to the European Union, in
order to assist them in their parliamentary work. The EPRS provides a
comprehensive range of products and services, backed by specialist internal
expertise and knowledge sources in all policy fields, so empowering Members
and committees through knowledge and contributing to the Parliament’s
effectiveness and influence as an institution.
Eurostat receives around 120 requests from the EP services per year
regarding methodological or data support. Eurostat works closely with the
EPRS by providing data for many of its reports. One recent example of this
collaboration was the interactive infographic on lifelong learning in the EU
2
published recently by the EP . For this graphic, the EPRS used data from a
variety of sources, including data published by Eurostat. Another recent
3
example is “Gender equality in the EU’s digital and media sectors ”.
The EP is also a member of the European Statistical Advisory Committee
(ESAC), established by Decision No 234/2008/EC of 11 March 2008 to assist
the EP, the Council and the Commission in ensuring that user requirements
are taken into account in determining the strategic objectives of statistics in
the European Union. According to Art 3 of that Decision, "At the request of
the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission the Committee
shall deliver an opinion on matters relating to user requirements and costs
incurred by data suppliers in the development of the Community’s statistical
information policy, in the priorities of the Community statistical programme,
in the evaluation of existing statistics, in data quality and in dissemination
policy."
The importance of identifying priorities and facilitating exchanges among
user groups has grown in recent years in the light of the challenges facing
statistical offices: reduced budgets and the pressure for efficiency gains whilst
coping with demands for new statistics. ESAC's main purpose is to bring
together the views of users and suppliers of statistics with those of producers
in the EU. How is this done in practice? During the preparation of the EU
statistical programmes, ESAC is consulted and puts forward its view on the

1 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/researchbypublicationtype.html
2 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/infographics/lifelonglearning/index.html
3 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2018/614695/EPRS BRI(2018)614695
EN.pdf
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