Survey hours for businesses slashed

New Zealand businesses are spending 40,000 fewer hours filling in surveys as part of the government’s drive to improve public services, Statistics Minister Nicky Wagner says.

Statistics New Zealand monitoring shows the hours spent by businesses each year on its surveys fell from 170,000 in 2002 to 130,000 by the end of 2012.

“The reduction has been achieved by making better use of existing data like tax information, which means less has to be collected by surveys.

“Fewer businesses are also being surveyed as efforts have been made to use administrative data first, leaving businesses to get on with business.

“The ongoing reductions put us on track to halve the amount of time being spent on business surveys by 2016. This is contributing to the government’s
Better Public Services for business (Result 9) programme, which aims to make it easier for businesses to work with government,” Ms Wagner says.

About 100,000 businesses will complete a Statistics NZ survey in 2014, fewer than half what is was in 2002.

“Statistics NZ is also working hard to make the information it collects more accessible on its website, as it can help businesses decide where to put new shops and what to put in them, where their supply chains are needed, and where they might find the workforce they need,” Ms Wagner says.

Statistics developed from business surveys are available on the Statistics NZ website stats.govt.nz/tools_and_services/business-toolbox.aspx. It includes market mapping and profiling tools, and links to industry benchmarking.

Administrative data is data collected by government agencies or private organisations in conducting their businesses or services.

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