RUSSIA, November 28 - Mikhail Mishustin: “The Government has developed a draft law that makes it possible to considerably reduce the load on small businesses, streamline the forms and types of data presented by them and eventually eliminate much of the duplication from different departments.”

Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:

Good afternoon, colleagues.

Today, we will discuss issues of developing statistics.

Data are a key resource. Government bodies adopt managerial decisions and make forecasts; companies draft business strategies and investment programmes, while citizens learn about the socio-economic, demographic and environmental situation in the country all based on data.

Work with data is becoming increasingly more important in the modern world where information flows are growing all the time – in both speed and scale. Therefore, it is very important to supply customers with objective and topical information. The main requirements to receiving information consist in quality, authenticity and speed.

By tradition, official statistics is responsible for the first two factors. It proceeds from international standards, transparent methodology and reliable sources. However, methods recommended by the international community do not always reflect the opportunities created by digital transformation and technological progress.

Organisations that collect and process information will also have to adjust their work to the new realities. Rosstat (Federal State Statistics Service) provides over half of all the data in the country. This information comes from over 7 million economic entities that report it through hundreds of forms. But this information is designed for the federal authorities alone. Regional and municipal departments have their own requirements as well. As a result, businesses send about one fifth of their indicators to different authorities. Obviously, this is a serious, excessive burden for them.

Following the President’s instructions, we are conducting a large-scale systematic project to reduce the administrative burden on companies, including reports. To lessen this load, we need new forms of interaction with them and effective tools to eliminate not only duplication but also the conditions that might result in more reports. With this goal in view, the Government has developed a draft law that makes it possible to considerably reduce the load on small businesses, streamline the forms and types of data presented by them and eventually eliminate much of the duplication from different departments.

Moreover, today 63 Rosstat-coordinated government bodies create their own information systems. As a rule, they do not follow common principles. Each of them has its own methods and uses its own technological and institutional solutions.

To improve the quality and comparability of statistics and to expedite the process, we need a mechanism for interdepartmental exchange, one that can use all available sources. This will help businesses save time and effort.

Now a few words about speed. Of course, it does not take a lot of time calculate some numbers, for instance, consumer or industrial price indexes. But it takes quite a bit of time to produce macro and social indicators.

To resolve this, it is necessary to modernise and digitise these processes based on the mandatory use of common classifiers and reference materials and a single system for collecting and processing information both at Rosstat and at other statistical offices.

It is also important to learn to use the near real time information that appears in the information bases of government bodies and big data sources.

At the strategic session last week, we discussed in detail the need to create a uniform digital infrastructure and reliable modern systems for processing and storing statistics.

Colleagues, let’s review, in detail, the current status of domestic statistic management and draft plans that will raise it to a new level.