Acting Director of the Central Statistical Office (CSO), Sean O’Brien, says the four officers suspended from duty had no influence on data flowing into the national domain.
He made the comment in a press release yesterday, in apparent response to statements made by Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis that the four officers had been suspended for allegedly falsifying labour force data.
In a press release, O’Brien said it had become necessary for the CSO to respond to allegations levelled against the organisation on matters relating to data accuracy.
“Recent reports in the national media have suggested that four officers of the CSO were somehow able to manipulate the labour force statistics which were disseminated to the public of Trinidad and Tobago. In accordance with principle four of the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UNFPOS), it has become necessary for the Acting Director of Statistics to publicly clarify this troublesome matter,” O’Brien said.
While admitting that the officers had been “derelict in their duties,” O’Brien noted that because of robust checks and procedures from senior staff for data accuracy, errors were detected in the data presented by the junior field officers.
O’Brien pointed out that the CSO’s data was in no way compromised as a result.
“The accuracy of the published data was therefore in no way affected. However, sadly the timeliness of the release of such data was negatively impacted. It must be emphasised that four junior officers such as temporary assistant field interviewers cannot influence data on a national scale.”
O’Brien explained that the junior field officers had been suspended for using old rather than fresh survey data.
“The four officers are temporary assistant field interviewers and are accused of not visiting enumeration districts and households at the time periods prescribed by the sampling design of the Continuous Sample Survey of the Population (CSSP).
“It is alleged that the officers rather used information from past records to complete questionnaires and listing records instead of conducting contemporaneous interviews.”