11230_om_not-searchable
/en/offentlig-sektor/statistikker/stafo_statres/aar
11230_om
statistikk
2010-06-09T10:00:00.000Z
Public sector;Public sector
en
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Central government units, expenditure (discontinued)2008

Content

About the statistics

Definitions

Name and topic

Name: Central government units, expenditure (discontinued)
Topic: Public sector

Responsible division

Division for Public Finance

Definitions of the main concepts and variables

Input measured in NOK:

Own production is defined, in principle, as the sum of the costs of the input factors that the different activities use to carry out activities and produce services. These are wage costs, the purchase of goods and services and use of fixed assets. Figures concerning use of fixed assets, i.e. depreciation and imputed interests, are usually not available. Therefore, this element is excluded from own production. The enterprises’ costs of purchase of goods and services, which are replacements for their own production of similar services, do not enter into their own production concept. Such costs are instead classified as transfers. An example is the Children, Youth and Family Affairs’ (Bufetat) purchase of services form private child welfare institutions. The central government purchases services from (transfers money to) these institutions, which in return undertake the responsibility for the care of the child.

Wage costs are defined as the total remuneration payable to the employees, including social security contributions. Reimbursements are subtracted. In addition, for some enterprises an estimated amount, due to lack of pension contributions to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, is included in the wage costs, see section 3.6.

Purchase of goods and services covers the value of utilized goods and services used in the production. However, the health enterprises’ purchase of services from other state health enterprises is not included in this category. Similarly, purchases that are not utilizes in the production, are not part of the purchase concept. Such purchases enter into the category of transfers.

Expenses to purchase services between central government enterprises which include debit authorisation, are in StatRes included in own production both for the buyer (purchase of services) and the seller (wage costs). To avoid double entry of the expenses, the internal trades are eliminated as the enterprises are added up to main divisions of services. Hence, the sum of the divisions of services might appear as higher than the main divisions. Internal trades without debit authorisation are not observable in the data sources, and hence not eliminated.

Estimated contributions to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund correspond to the estimated amount added to the enterprises which do not have those pension costs included in their accounts, see section 3.6.

Transfers comprise current payments to the private and public sector, such as pensions, child allowance and sick pay and rehabilitation benefits to households, operating subsidies to the industry and commerce, and transfers to the local authorities, NGOs and foreign countries. Transfers within enterprises in the central government are not included, for instance the Ministry of Health’s transfers to health enterprises. Still, transfers cover purchases of goods and services that do not enter in the production, as mentioned under Purchase of goods and services.

Investments cover procurements of fixed capital such as buildings, machinery, roads, railroads and equipment. Net acquisition of land is also included in this category. Sales of fixed assets are deducted. Investments in financial objects, such as stocks are not included.

Total expenditure is made up of the sum of own production, transfers and investments.

Input measured in contracted man-years adjusted for long term leaves:

Contracted man-years adjusted for long term leaves is defined as the sum of the number of full-time jobs and part-time jobs converted to full-time equivalents, excluding man-years lost due to doctor-certified absence and parental leave.

See section 3.6.

Standard classifications

The population is based upon the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises’ (BoF), units that are classified as a central government enterprise. The institutional grouping of the economy into sectors is a standard that is based on recommendations for the National Account structure, provided by the United Nations. Norway’s institutional grouping of sectors is based on the Eurostat’s ESA 1995 , which recommends that each country should design their own sector structure which is adapted to the nation’s distinctive characteristics. The central government is a sub-sector within the general government.

Input measured in NOK:

Expenditure is classified by the structure of the national account, which broadly corresponds with the definitions in IMF's Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 ( GFSM2001 ). The expenditure is classified into groups, based on whether it is related to the enterprise’s own production of service, transfers in cash or in kind, or investments. In a few cases, the definitions are deviated for the purpose of a more realistic picture of the use of resources.

Administrative information

Regional level

National figures are provided for the main divisions of service, the divisions of service and for most of the enterprises, see section 2.1. In addition, regional figures are provided for the following divisions of service: Specialist health service, national child welfare, police and prosecutions, church and the county governor posts.

Frequency and timeliness

Annual

International reporting

No

Microdata

Collected data is stored by Division for Public Finances, and will only be used for statistical purposes.

Background

Background and purpose

The objective of StatRes is to present statistics on central government input, the results in terms of activities and services, and the outcomes of the input. The purpose of such statistics is to give the general public and the authorities improved knowledge of state-run activities. StatRes is developed upon commission by the Ministry of Government Administration, Reform and Church affairs.

The total overview of StatRes covers all units that constitute the central government sector. It is divided into five main divisions of service, which are further divided into divisions of service and their enterprises.

The total overview of StatRes covers only figures for input. Data on activities, services and outcome can be found in the areas for several divisions of service. The figures cover input measured in NOK and in contracted man-years adjusted for long-term leaves. The StatRes project started in 2005 and the first figures were published in October 2007. Until this release, StatRes has presented central government expenditure by ministries including sub-units, and by functions of expenditure (10 government functions based on the COFOG standard). The first figures for the total overview of central government by enterprises were published in June 2010.

Users and applications

StatRes’ target group are users of statistics with some knowledge of and interest in central government activities who require information on resource use, activities, services and outcomes of government activities. Such users could be the general public, the media, politicians and students. StatRes provides the authorities with information which are supplements to other information used in the governing of central government activities.

Coherence with other statistics

Input measured in NOK:

The central government sector is part of the national account (NA), where the fiscal account is one of the main data sources. The national account presents key figures for production, investments, wage costs and consumption at macro level.

Some transactions are classified differently in StatRes compared to the national account, but most of the deviations are insignificant. StatRes is based almost directly on the underlying accounts for the enterprises, which to a large degree are at a cash debiting standard, while the national account aims to present their figures at the earned income principle, which corresponds to the Eurostat standard for national accounts ( ESA 95 ). An important difference in the NA estimations, is the advance payment of large and long-term contracts, such as acquisitions of frigates and fighter planes. The National Accounts consider these purchases as financial investments until the delivery time of the assets. At delivery time, the financial transactions are thus re-classified as investments in fixed assets, i.e. a re-classification from the fiscal account cash debiting standard to the accrual based principle. Furthermore, the investments in buildings by the health enterprises are recorded in StatRes when the buildings are commissioned, while NA records the investments gradually in correspondence to the accrual principle. In addition, StatRes and NA do not distinguish operational costs (goods and services) and investments equally, since ESA 95 has a more complex concept of investments. Moreover, the estimated mark-up of the pension contributions implies a minor difference in the wage costs. See section 3.6, section 4.1 and concepts and definitions in national accounts .

Input measured in contracted man-years:

Statistics Norway does not publish other particular statistics on employment in the central government sector today, but the employees are included in Statistics Norway’s general register-based employment statistics where the employees and their contracted working hours are only counted in the enterprise where the employee performs her/his main position. StatRes also includes second jobs, in addition to 1) inclusion of employees more than 74 years old, 2) inclusion of employees on a short-term stay in Norway and 3) subtraction of doctor-certified absence and parental leave.

Employees in the central government sector are also published in NA, by f ull-time equivalent persons , which are nearly the same as contracted man-years (in StatRes, contracted man-years adjusted for long-term leaves are published). The number of full-time equivalent persons in central government in NA is nearly identical to the figures in the register-based employment statistics, but the estimation methods and sources are different. The NA also publish figures for total hours worked , based upon a complex estimation system. The NA only publish figures on aggregated levels.

Legal authority

The Statistics Act §§ 2-2 and 3-2.

EEA reference

No

Production

Population

The statistics comprises all state enterprises defined in accordance to the European System of Accounts ( ESA 1995 ) for the central government sector. This comprises enterprises which are controlled by the central government and mainly financed by taxes. Public corporations and unincorporated public enterprises (financial or non-financial) are not included. However, the statistics covers some enterprises, which are, in a legal sense, not part of the government sector, for instance the health enterprises. Private hospitals and institutions with or without an operating agreement are excluded in accordance with the national account. Statistics Norway’s Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (BoF), in practice identical with the Brønnøysund Register of Business Enterprises, forms the basis of the sector classification of the enterprises.

This statistics presents the central government’s resource use in 5 main divisions of services, which are based on COFOG (Classification of the Functions of Government). These areas are in turn divided into 5-7 sub-areas. Statistics are presented for input for all of the activities, with the exception of some small units that are classified as ´´other´´ within their sub-area. Input for the ministries is also presented in a separate table.

Data sources and sampling

Input measured in NOK:

The accounting figures for most of the published units are based on data reported to the Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management (SSØ) in connection with the preparation of the state accounts (Report no. 3 to the Storting). Independent accounts for activities that are not covered by the state accounts are also used. The latter group includes the health enterprises, universities and university colleges, some state research institutes, trusts and administrative bodies with special authority. With regard to the child welfare authorities, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the Norwegian National Rail Administration, a combination of data from SSØ and separate collections from the respective accountants is used.

Input measured in contracted man-years:

Register-based employment statistics in Statistics Norway are based on individual register data from various registers. Information related to employees and agreed working hours per week is mainly collected from the Nav State Register of Employers and Employees, the End of the Year Certificate Register, the Tax Register (the Directorate of Taxes), and payroll registers. The Central Coordinating Register for Legal Entities in Brønnøysund and Statistics Norway’s Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises provide data on industries and sectors for enterprises and underlying establishments. NAV’s register of participants in labour market initiatives, recipients of parental benefits and doctor-certified absence are also included. The employment statistics is therefore based on a number of different sources. Statistics Norway has developed a system for common utilization of these sources. Work is currently underway to ascertain the degree of input using overtime.

Information related to man-years in compulsory military and civilian service is collected from the National Service Administration.

Total counting.

Compulsory military and civilian service is included in the man-years statistics from 2009.This means that the number of man-years in the associated groups The Norwegian Armed Forces, &“Defence, public order and safety´´ and the central government in total, is roughly 5 000 man-years too low in 2006-2008.

Locally employed staff in the Norwegian foreign service missions are not included. This error affects the associated groups The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, &“The Norwegian Foreign Service´´, &“Financial affairs, external affairs and administration´´ and the central government in total. According to the web page of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are approximately 900 locally employed persons.

Collection of data, editing and estimations

Input measured in NOK:

Data from the Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management to Statistics Norway is transmitted electronically.

Accounts for the health enterprises are collected via electronic questionnaires and electronic account files (KOSTRA).

For all universities and university colleges except from the Norwegian Police University College, accounts data are collected from the Database for Information on Research and Higher Education (DBH).

The remaining enterprises transmit their account in accordance with agreements.

Input measured in contracted man-years:

Extracts from several registers (see 3.2).

Definition and classification of the population for each year are controlled against the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (BoF), in practice identical with the Brønnøysund Register of Business Enterprises

Input measured in NOK:

Indicators based on accounting data are compared to the corresponding figures in the Central Government's fiscal account and the other transmitted accounts. Wage costs are compared with the contracted man-years and Statistics Norway’s wage statistics. In addition, tests on reasonableness and controls on macro level are performed.

Input measured in contracted man-years:

The three most central registers concerning production of the statistics follow this procedure for control and revision: The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration conducts an annual control of the NAV State Register of Employers and Employees. Statistics Norway controls that enterprises with more than one establishment have separate numbers for each, and that the employees are registered with the correct establishment. Statistics Norway also controls the NAV State Register of Employers and Employees by comparing it with the End of the Year Certificate Register etc. Some kinds of errors are also corrected directly in the basic data for the employment statistics. Further, the contracted man-years adjusted for long-term leaves are checked against the wage costs mentioned above, in addition to the basic data for the wage statistics from payroll registers.

Input measured in NOK:

See section 4.1 for further explanation of the terms that are applied in the description below.

The data set received from the Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management covers most of the enterprises in the StatRes population. These data also reflect the input that the enterprises have transmitted to the Agency for Financial Management in the purpose of composing the fiscal account. The data set contains information regarding which enterprise that has reported each payment.

Each payment recorded will be ascribable to one of the main categories of input measured in NOK: Own production, investments, transfers and financial transactions. The categories are closely related to the fiscal budget expenditure divided into operating expenses (post 1-29), fixed capital formation (post 30-49), transfers to others (post 60-89) and lending and debt instalments etc. (post 90-99).

The financial transactions and central government internal transfers are removed from the data set. The payments recorded as own production are further attributed to the following categories: Wage costs and purchase of goods and services. Wage costs are comparable to the fiscal budget’s post 01.11 to 01.19. Purchase of goods and services are comparable to post 01.21 to 01.29. The own production categories are identified from each transmitted account from the enterprises that are not recorded in the fiscal account.

A number of central government enterprises have no pension costs recorded in their accounts. These enterprises do not contribute directly to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, where its employees are members. These contributions are covered by a block grant from the Ministry of Government Administration and Reform to the pension fund. Some enterprises, however, pay out and record this expenditure in their accounts. To remunerate for this difference, wage costs (excluding employers’ contributions to the National Insurance Scheme) in the non-pension paying enterprises are adjusted upward by 15 per cent. This level corresponds approximately to the share of the direct-paying enterprises.

The data file from Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management contains revenues that are reimbursements for long-term sick leave and parental leave. For the other enterprises, these reimbursements are subtracted from the wage costs. To collocate the enterprises, the recorded reimbursements in the first file are subtracted from the wage expenditures.

Enterprises may perform activities on behalf of each other. In certain cases, the seller may debit the buyer’s chapter directly for the activities that are carried out. The payment is nevertheless not debited the buyer’s account and hence not reported to the Agency for Financial Management. However, comparable purchases from other state enterprises are part of the buyers’ accounts. To attain a comparable picture of the divisions in the StatRes population, Statistics Norway assigns the buying enterprises’ accounts an equivalent amount, compared to what other enterprises would have assigned the buyer’s chapter. These amounts are classified as purchase of goods and services in the input data for the buyer. As the input data for the enterprises are summarised and collocated to higher levels, the amounts that Statistics Norway has assigned to the enterprises are eliminated.

Finally, the estimated accounting figures are grouped, summarized and presented in accordance with the classifications that are described in section 4.1.

Input measured in contracted man-years:

Contracted man-years adjusted for long term leaves, is estimated by Statistics Norway as the number of full-time jobs and part-time jobs calculated as full-time equivalents adjusted for doctor-certified sickness absence and parental leave. Man-years are estimated as a percentage of ordinary full-time jobs (37.5 hours per week). The full-time working hours per week are set between 32 and 40 for employees with a health and welfare education who works in health and social services, to adjust for shift working etc. The estimation of man-years is based on the contracted working hours at a reference week (the third week of November in the statistics year) which is considered to be representative for the whole year. The register information on contracted man-years adjusted for long term leaves will not be identical to the actual number of man-years worked, since the statistics does not capture overtime work, self-reported sickness absence, vacations, and other deviations from contracted man-years, except for parental leave and doctor-certified absence. For employees with more than one central government working relation in the reference week, contracted man-years adjusted for long-term leaves are estimated for each working relation and linked to each of the state enterprises where the persons are employed.

Man-years statistics about compulsory military and civilian service is collected from the National Service Administration. One contracted man-year is estimated for each person who is doing service in the reference week (third week of November), and adjusted for long term leaves.

Confidentiality

The fields of responsibility in the central government are to a large degree characterized by a single enterprise per division of service. It is difficult to shed light on this responsibility without exposing the actual government service. StatRes has divided the responsibilities into 5 main divisions of services, which is too coarse-screened to illuminate the variety in the central government activities. Statistics Norway has considered the confidentiality concerns, and found that the two conditions for exception in the Statistics Act § 2-6 are granted. The conditions are:

  1. The consideration of an appropriate structure of the statistics requires publications of a detailed level, including the risk of identification of a statistic unit without suppression.
  2. The publication with the risk of identification must not involve injuries (on physical or juridical person).

Consequently, confidentiality regarding central government enterprises is not taken into account in this statistics. Confidentiality is considered only on the subject of clients/users and employees.

This statistics does not cover graded information.

Comparability over time and space

StatRes &– Central government with exposure of enterprises is published for the first time in June 2010, including indicators from 2006 to 2008. Unless anything else is stated here, the indicators have generally good comparability from 2006. Previously, this sector was published at macro level according to national account standards with figures from 1996.

The man-year figures involve the enterprises’ own employees. It may vary whether the enterprises choose to purchases their services, or to produce by their own employees, i.e. purchase of supporting services such as cleaning, kindergarten and canteen. The accounting figures show both wage costs related to own employees and purchases of corresponding goods and services.

Accuracy and reliability

Sources of error and uncertainty

Input measured in NOK:

The StatRes enterprises keep accounts according to regulations which include strict accounting controls. In adition, the accounts are audited by the Office of the Auditor General. Errors in accounting data are therefore considered to be negligible.

StatRes aims at measuring central government input in NOK. This is not straightforward, as central Government accounting is cash based, not accrual based. The quality of annual input indicators are still considered satisfactory.

As a consequence of cash based accounting, the fiscal account units do not write off their costs of non-financial capital. Consequently, the costs of capital and imputed depreciation might be underestimated. The investments could be used as an input factor in the estimation of the depreciation. However, the level of investments would vary from each year, and hence deviate significantly from the costs of depreciation.

Another measurement error is related to the fact that various enterprises have interest free access to capital. The costs of this capital are not recorded, and neither included in the input measured in NOK. Similar to the depreciation, this implies that the input in NOK is underestimated. This measurement error can be large for enterprises with large values of fixed assets. However, the most part of the central government enterprises rent their buildings, and own in general a low level of fixed assets. Their costs of non-financial capital will as a consequence appear indirectly, as rental costs under purchase of goods and services.

Processing errors may occur during the estimation of the figures at Statistics Norway. For instance, according to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund premiums, the same percentage mark-up is applied to all enterprises, while the pension commitments are in real life different between enterprises. The deviations from 15 per cent are though small, according to Statistics Norway’s calculations.

Input measured in contracted man-years:
The data quality concerning minor and sporadic employment will be poorer than for employees registered in the NAV State Register of Employers and Employees. For persons who are identified as employees on the basis of the End of the Year Certificate Register, the employment is not dated precisely. This is the case for 2-3 per cent of the contracted man-years adjusted for long term leaves in the StatRes &– total overview population for 2006-2008. The half of these undated contracted man-years adjusted for long term leaves, can however be dated based on information from other registers. For the remaining half, information about salary size is used as a criterion for defining whether the person is employed or not. Accordingly, there is some uncertainty about whether the persons included from the End of the Year Certificate Register actually were working in the enterprise at the time (the third week of November).

Forsvarsbygg lacks roughly 400 man-years in 2010, and this error also affects the associated groups &“Other defence services´´, &“Defence, public order and safety´´ and the central government in total.

The update of the definitions and grouping of the StatRes population according to the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (BoF) and the Register of Business Enterprises may be disturbed from lag in reports from other registers and sources. In addition, there may be confusion concerning institutional sectors for each of the enterprises. These are conditions that might result in lack of overview of the population, and absent or incorrect attachment for firms. See also section 5.4.

Input measured in NOK:

Not relevant (total counting).

Input measured in contracted man-years:

Total counting.

Compulsory military and civilian service is included in the man-years statistics from 2009.This means that the number of man-years in the associated groups The Norwegian Armed Forces, &“Defence, public order and safety´´ and the central government in total, is roughly 5 000 man-years too low in 2006-2008.

Locally employed staff in the Norwegian foreign service missions are not included. This error affects the associated groups The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, &“The Norwegian Foreign Service´´, &“Financial affairs, external affairs and administration´´ and the central government in total. According to the web page of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are approximately 900 locally employed persons.

The update of the definitions and grouping of the StatRes population is maintained by performing situational extractions from the Central Register of Establishments and Enterprises (BoF) in week 17 in the year after the statistic year. This extraction includes the units with organizational attachment for firms and enterprises in the central government, in addition to synopsis of changes, i.e. new enterprises, deleted enterprises, adjusted attachments etc. during the previous calendar year. There might be an incomplete overview of organisational changes, or time lags according to this, in the data sources.