Accuracy and reliability

Overall accuracy

Statistics Denmark provides guidance to municipalities on correct practices for data reporting. However, they do not possess the necessary knowledge to assess the variations in municipal procedures concerning disability services provided to children and youth. Due to municipalities using different digital systems for data reporting and transmission, the data are not consistently and uniformly registered.

For example, one municipality may categorize a specific measure under a legislative section included in the statistics, whereas another municipality may categorize the same measure under a different section not included in the statistics.

To ensure uniformity in data transmission and reporting, municipalities are obligated to implement and adhere to the regulations outlined in the bekendtgørelse om dataindberetninger (i.e. The Executive Order on Data Transmission in the Social Policy Area).

The statistics include data from 98 municipalities, and the number of granted disability services reported and approved by these municipalities is considered complete.

Sampling error

Not relevant for these statistics since the statistic's method is complete enumeration.

Non-sampling error

All reports from the country’s 98 municipalities are included in the population. Municipalities approve the data at an aggregated level. There may be measurement errors in the reporting of the intervention period. For example, a possible error could occur if a municipality records the date when the intervention is granted as the start date instead of the actual date when the intervention is implemented, which is the correct date to report for the statistics.

Municipalities have different referral practices and internal services. If the need for support, treatment, etc., for children and young people with significant and permanent reduced physical or mental functional capacity cannot be met through the municipality’s general daycare, leisure, and club offers, services are established under provisions in the Child’s Act and previously under the Social Services Act. What one municipality records under one paragraph of the statistics may be recorded under a different paragraph in another municipality, which may not be reported as part of the statistics.

The work with disability-compensating services can take place across several municipal departments, which poses a risk of missing reports. However, due to intensive validation in cooperation with the municipalities, the uncertainty is assessed to be low.

Municipalities are expected to report all disability-compensating measures they grant to children and young people under the Child’s Act and previously under the Social Services Act. It is assumed that some cases may be overlooked in reporting, but validation and annual meetings minimize this source of error.

Quality management

Statistics Denmark follows the recommendations on organisation and management of quality given in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and the implementation guidelines given in the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF). A Working Group on Quality and a central quality assurance function have been established to continuously carry through control of products and processes.

Quality assurance

Statistics Denmark follows the principles in the Code of Practice for European Statistics (CoP) and uses the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (QAF) for the implementation of the principles. This involves continuous decentralized and central control of products and processes based on documentation following international standards. The central quality assurance function reports to the Working Group on Quality. Reports include suggestions for improvement that are assessed, decided and subsequently implemented.

Quality assessment

The annual publication of the statistics on disability-compensating measures for children and young people, issued no later than six months after the end of the reference period, ensures that users receive current and relevant information about municipal disability-compensating interventions.

The division into the statistical bank tables HANDBU01, HANDBU02, HANDBU03, and HANDBU04 enables users to answer relevant questions about disability-compensating measures for children and young people.

The publication of a “Nyt” article on disability measures for children and young people, along with the statistical tables and this documentation, makes the statistics accessible to users. The registers provide researchers and the ministry with the opportunity to examine more complex questions about both the measures themselves and the relationships between measures and other factors.

The statistics are accurate and reliable, as they are based on a complete count (total enumeration) and the overall uncertainty is assessed as low. Quality is ensured, among other things, through the annual validation process with the municipalities, where all 98 municipalities receive a validation report with key figures from Statistics Denmark. Following dialogue and clarification, several municipalities have received additional information. The municipalities themselves assess the quality and approve the reported data.

The statistics include data from all 98 municipalities in the country. All 98 municipalities contribute data for the entire period from January 1, 2022, through December 31 of the respective year in which data have most recently been collected.

When comparing municipalities, there may be considerable variation in the number of individual measures, even after adjusting for population size. This can, among other things, be due to differences in the municipalities’ internal services and referral practices.

Data revision - policy

Statistics Denmark revises published figures in accordance with the Revision Policy for Statistics Denmark. The common procedures and principles of the Revision Policy are for some statistics supplemented by a specific revision practice.

Data revision practice

The statistical register underlying the statistics is a longitudinal register that is updated annually. This is the longitudinal register that does not contain information about service providers, (cf. section 2.1).

At each publication, data are updated for the two previous years in addition to the new year in all statistical tables in StatBank Denmark. Once the statistics have been published for over five years, the statistical tables will be updated for four previous years in addition to the new year.

Revisions for previous years are carried out when a new statistical year is compiled. Since the registers contain longitudinal data, revisions may occur several years back.

Reporters can daily make corrections to already reported data or add new information, and these changes will be included in the next statistical calculation.

Relatively few revisions are expected for past years.