Taskforce for BBS overhaul, proposes name change, calls for transparency council

The Independent Taskforce on Strengthening the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has proposed a sweeping reform package to transform the bureau into a modern, autonomous, and trusted national statistical organisation.

A report was submitted today (15 September) to Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud, outlining a wide range of reforms, including a new name, leadership structure, legal safeguards for autonomy, and measures to rebuild public trust in official data.

In the report, the taskforce, chaired by Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), recommended that the BBS be renamed Statistics Bangladesh (StatBD). It also proposed elevating the bureau's chief to the position of chief statistician, a prestigious special-scale post outside the administrative cadre. 

A central recommendation is the formation of a seven-member Trust and Transparency Council of Statistics (TTCS), chaired by the planning adviser, to provide oversight, review performance, and play a role in selecting the chief statistician.

A recent BIDS survey found that only 29.39% of users are satisfied with the quality of data from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Photo: Collected

The taskforce also called for amendments to the Statistics Act of 2013 to guarantee the autonomy of Statistics Bangladesh in technical matters such as data validation and release, and to shield official statistics from political or administrative interference.

To tackle chronic staffing shortages, it suggested doubling the bureau's structure from eight to sixteen wings and creating 437 new posts at the upazila level. A unified career ladder was also recommended, merging cadre and non-cadre services into a single professional path for statisticians.

The taskforce also advocated for an open data policy, with pre-announced release calendars, simultaneous data access for all users, and full metadata publication to restore public trust.

It also prioritised budgetary autonomy, recommending dedicated revenue funding for core surveys and an immediate allocation of Tk50 crore to stabilise annual survey operations.

The taskforce's report concluded by urging the immediate formation of a recommendation implementation task team, chaired by the planning adviser, to guide the phased rollout of these proposed reforms.

The eight-member expert taskforce was formed back in April this year by the government to review the quality, transparency, and accessibility of the data it produces.

'Courageous and timely' package

Speaking to reporters after submitting the report, Hossain Zillur said the taskforce was formed to make the country's statistics "qualitatively visible and transparent".

"The report provides a courageous, timely, and realistic reform package that outlines the institutional processes needed to achieve this goal," he said. 

Asked why the taskforce did not propose a fully independent commission, he admitted it was a "challenging question" but added that it was not part of their (the taskforce's) initial scope.

"We want to state with certainty that the report we have submitted will be implemented. There will only be some necessary refinements and adjustments; there is no apprehension of any other changes," Hossain Zillur said.

"An immediate task team will be formed that will not be solely bureaucratic; it will also include independent members. The new structure proposes that the position of chief statistician be taken out of the administrative cadre and filled through a competitive selection process," he added.

He further said the proposed high-powered council will play a role in the selection process and institutional policy-making. This will ensure the independence and transparency of the organisation. "If these reforms are realised, the statistical institution will not only be independent but also more effective in the public interest of the country," he said.

Hossain Zillur stated that the reforms would end the "project culture" within the bureau by bringing core services under the government's revenue budget. A Development Project Proposal (DPP) has already been submitted for immediate allocation, he added.

The reform package also outlined steps to improve data accessibility and harmonisation. These include annual stakeholder conferences to gather feedback, and the formation of a Methodological Advisory Council to ensure quality and consistency of data.

At the briefing, Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud welcomed the proposals, highlighting the importance of openness.

"To ensure transparency, it has been proposed that the BBS will take part in open discussions from time to time. There, they will explain which indicators and statistics were used to measure national income or inflation. This will give experts, researchers, journalists, and everyone else an opportunity to scrutinise the data," he said.

He added that the most significant recommendation was to make data open to all, except for confidential information on specific families or businesses as restricted under international law.

"BBS will be able to publish the results of national income, growth, inflation, or other surveys without government approval," he said, noting that experts would be consulted for each survey and results published independently.

According to the members of the task force, views of BBS officials, the Statistics and Informatics Division (SID), the Planning Commission, media representatives and data users were considered in the reports preparation.

The taskforce said the current draft will be finalised after feedback from relevant stakeholders.