69. Member countries of the Commission provided a wide range of experiences, reflecting different situations in their countries. While much policy formulation was based on reliable statistics, the Commission learned that policy-makers required an increasing range of detailed statistics which the statistical agencies were often unable to provide because of scarce resources and that, in these situations, the policy-makers were limited to using data that were available.
70. The Commission recommended that statisticians should be advocates for the use of the data they were collecting and producing and should explain to the policy-makers the value of statistics for decision-making. The Commission suggested a number of approaches including (1) regular meetings between statisticians and policy-makers; (2) user groups to discuss policy issues and statistical needs; (3) advisory committees which could act as advocates; and (4) special joint projects to determine statistical needs.
71. The Commission also recommended that statisticians and policy-makers should work more closely to understand each other's needs and should work as advocates for more resources to meet increasing demands for data.
