Questions & Replies: Presidency - National Planning Commission

2012-11-30

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Reply received: November 2012

 

 

QUESTION NUMBER 3357

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 23 NOVEMBER 2012

3357. Mr T D Harris (DA) to ask the Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission:

(1) Whether he received a request from the (a) Statistician-General and (b) chairperson of the Statistics Council to postpone the official release date of the Census 2011 results beyond 30 October 2012; if so, in each case, what was (i) the reason for their request and (ii) his response;

(2) whether he has been informed of (a) any anomalies in the Census 2011 age distribution data and (b) their implications for the trend in national fertility rates over the past decade; if so, what are the relevant details in each case;

(3). whether he intends to (a) establish a task team to assess the data fully and (b) release the 10% sample of the unit data earlier than the planned release date of March 2013; if not, why not, in each case; if so, what are the relevant details in each case;

(4) whether the Post Enumeration Survey (PES) for Census 2011 was reopened; if so, (a) why and (b) how did this impact on the ability of (i) Stats SA and (ii) the independent consultants to fully evaluate and assess the data?

NW4256E

REPLY

(1) No. Neither the Statistician-General nor the Chairperson of the Statistics Council submitted a request to me to postpone the official release date of the Census 2011 beyond 30 October 2012.Several dates were discussed in the period prior to the release and based on the progress made and the reports received from the consultants, 30October 2012 was agreed on as a feasible date.

(2) (a) I was informed of progress being made towards the release of the results. In this regard the Statistics Council informed me of all matters related to data quality as well as patterns that appeared as variances. These included the bulge in the age 0-4 group and an indent in the age 5-19 group. As part of quality assurance and evaluation of the Census 2011 processes, these instances were subjected to the standard quality checks. There were technical discussions within Stats SA and between Stats SA and the Statistics Council on the observations presented by the age distribution based on the 5% data that was released in June 2012 for the original evaluation of Census 2011 data. These observations were also shared with the consultants commissioned to perform the evaluation of the Census 2011 data. Based on the observations and an in-depth analysis, the consultants and Stats SA provided a report to the Statistics Council on 22 September 2012 that concluded that the observations were valid.

(b) No. A fertility monograph will be published in March 2013 as part of the in-depth analysis and the implications on the national fertility rate will be dealt with as part of that publication.

(3) (a) No. There is no scientific reason to establish a task team to assess the data fully as this was comprehensively completed by the teams in Stats SA and the consultants commissioned for the evaluation of the Census 2011 data. All the reports from the consultants were submitted to the Statistics Council were submitted on the 26th September 2012. These reports were used by the Statistics Council to prepare a consolidated final report that was submitted to me with the advice to accept the results of Census 2011 and the recommendation to release on the 30th October. The Statistics Council indicated their confidence that the census was conducted according to the international standards and that the quality was sound.

(b) No. There are no intentions to release the 10% sample of the unit data earlier than the planned release date of March 2013.

(4) (a) The Post Enumeration Survey (PES) for Census 2011 was reopened by the Statistician-General as part of the due diligence and quality control measures. This decision was presented both to Statistics Council who supported the decision and to myself.

The primary role of the PES is to evaluate the census, to indicate the extent and profile of those who were missed or over-counted during the census and finally to provide the adjustment estimates for the Census 2011. The work was completed on time to calculate the undercount and provide the adjustment estimates for the census data.

The details of the PES indicated that the PES figures and the Census 2011 results did not align as the PES figures did not fully match the output from the census dataset as expected. This pointed to an incomplete PES as a completed PES should provide a correlation with the census output and this necessitated the re-opening of the PES.

(b) (i) The reopening of the PES resulted in additional resources being required and a new team under a different leadership being appointed to ensure that the remaining work was provided with a fresh approach. It required the team to complete the task under tremendous pressure in order to finalise the numbers to meet the requirements of the international consultants who had to conduct the evaluation of the PES component of the census work. To facilitate this, the consultants worked with the team from the data-processing centre from the date of the reopening of the PES.

(ii) The consultants were able to fully evaluate the PES and their reports are unambiguous about the need to have reopened the PES and about the processes and scientific procedures that were followed. This forms part of the report to the Statistics Council and on that basis Census 2011 was declared fit for use and subsequently released.

 

Reply received: August 2012

QUESTION NO. 1830

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 27 JULY 2012

1830. Mr J J McGluwa (ID) to ask the Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission:

(1) (a) What is the cost breakdown of the National Planning Commission's National Dialogue Campaign since its launch and (b) which publications featured the campaign;

(2) what (a) was the cost of the colour page advertisements that were published in the Mail & Guardian on 22 June 2012 and (b) is the breakdown of the cost to the NPC for the Mail & Guardian's 200 Young South Africans 2012 supplement?

NW2222E

REPLY:

(1) Based on the President's call for a National Dialogue on the draft National Development Plan on 11 November 2011, the media costs were as follows:

(a) Cost breakdown	(b) Publication
R397 575 .42	Sunday Times (Business Times)
R312 496.80	City Press
R445 044.60	Rapport
R68 800.00	Sunday Independent
R91 507.00	Isolezwe
R74 857.42 – Courier services to distribute the inserts
R1 390 172.82

(2) In drafting the National Development Plan, the National Planning Commission (NPC) has taken a firm stance with regard to the importance of leadership and capabilities. In this regard, there has been great emphasis on the importance of engaging the youth and in this case, we endorsed the initiative by the Mail and Guardian of identifying 200 Young South Africans who have excelled in their respective fields. The NPC expressed its support through the advertisements and in the insert without payment.

Reply received: April 2012

QUESTION NUMBER 688

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 16 MARCH 2012

688. Dr D T George (DA) to ask the Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission:

(1) Whether Statistics SA leases office space in the Manaka Continental Building in Pretoria from a certain company (name furnished); if so, what is the (a) annual rental and (b) floor space of its (i) new and (ii) previous premises;

(2) whether his department publicly invited tenders in this regard; if not, why not; if so, (a) when, (b) where was it published, (c) which (i) companies and (ii) properties were shortlisted and (d) what was the (i) floor space and (ii) rental of each property that was shortlisted?

NW850E

Reply:

 

(1) No. Stats SA does not lease any office space in the Manaka Continental Building which is located at Corner Visagie and Bosman Streets, Pretoria.

(2) No. Stats SA does not advertise tenders for lease agreements as this process is undertaken by the National Department of Public Works on behalf of its clients.

Reply received: April 2012

QUESTION NO. 12

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 9 FEBRUARY 2012

12. Mr J J Mc Gluwa (ID) to ask the Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission:

(a) At how many (i) international and (ii) domestic hotels/guest houses was he accommodated during the period 1 April 2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is available and (b) what (i) was the (aa) name, (bb) star rating and (cc) city location of each specified establishment, (ii) was the (aa) duration and (bb) purpose of the stay in each case and (iii)(aa) was the total cost of the accommodation and (bb) is the breakdown of the accommodation cost in each case? NW13E

REPLY:

(a) (i) 22

(ii) 4

(b) See attached