# Commission Regulation (EU) No 1175/2014Show full title

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1175/2014 of 30 October 2014 implementing Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament            and of the Council concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning, as regards            statistics on the participation of adults in lifelong learning and repealing Commission Regulation (EU) No 823/2010 (Text            with EEA relevance)         

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U.K.

# Commission Regulation (EU) No 1175/2014                     

# of 30 October 2014

# implementing Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the production and development                        of statistics on education and lifelong learning, as regards statistics on the participation of adults in lifelong learning                        and repealing Commission Regulation (EU) No 823/2010                     

# (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 concerning the                           production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning(1), and in particular Article 6(1) thereof,                        

Whereas:

(1)Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 establishes a common framework for the systematic production of European statistics on education                              and lifelong learning.

(2)Commission Regulation (EU) No 823/2010(2) introduced measures for carrying out individual statistical actions to produce statistics on the participation of adults                              in lifelong learning covered by Domain 2 of Regulation (EC) No 452/2008.

(3)When producing and disseminating European statistics on the participation of adults in lifelong learning, the national and                              EU statistical authorities should take account of the principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice endorsed                              by the European Statistical System Committee in September 2011.

(4)Data collection on the participation of adults in lifelong learning needs to be regularly adapted to changes and new developments                              in lifelong learning and in order to respond to new information needs.

(5)With a view to promoting a high level of harmonisation of the survey results across countries, methodological guidelines should                              be drafted by the Commission for the implementation of the survey.

(6)Regulation (EU) No 823/2010 should therefore be repealed.

(7)The measures set out in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

# Article 1U.K.

The data collection for the second survey on the participation and non-participation of adults in lifelong learning (hereinafter                     referred to as the ‘Second Adult Education Survey’) shall take place between 1 July 2016 and 31 March 2017. The reference                     period for which the data on participation in lifelong learning activities are collected shall be the 12 months prior to the                     interview.                  

# Article 2U.K.

The population age range covered by the survey shall be 25-64. The age groups 18-24 and 65-69 shall be covered on an optional                     basis.                  

# Article 3U.K.

The variables concerning the subjects covered by the Second Adult Education Survey as specified under Domain 2 of the Annex                     to Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 and their breakdowns shall be as set out in Annex I to this Regulation.                  

# Article 4U.K.

The sampling and precision standards needed to meet the requirements related to the data sources and sample sizes specified                     under Domain 2 of the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 shall be as set out in Annex II to this Regulation.                  

# Article 5U.K.

Member States shall transmit a standard quality report on the Second Adult Education Survey to the Commission (Eurostat).                     The structure of the report shall be conform to the European Statistical System Standard Quality Report Structure, in particular                     taking into consideration the quality criteria referred to in Article 4(1)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 and the further                     requirements set out in Annex III to this Regulation.                  

# Article 6U.K.

1.Member States shall transmit clean micro-data files regarding the Second Adult Education Survey to the Commission (Eurostat)                        within six months after the end of the national data collection period.                  

2.Member States shall transmit the standard quality report regarding the Second Adult Education Survey to the Commission (Eurostat)                        within three months after the delivery of the micro-data files.                  

# Article 7U.K.

The requirements set out in this Regulation are minimum requirements. Member States may introduce further national requirements                     regarding the Second Adult Education Survey, provided that the quality requirements set out in this Regulation are met.                  

# Article 8U.K.

Regulation (EU) No 823/2010 is repealed.

References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation.

# Article 9U.K.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the *Official Journal of the European Union*.                  

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 30 October 2014.

*For the Commission*                            

*The President*                            

José Manuel Barroso                            

## ANNEX IU.K.Variables

### *Note to the table:*U.K.

All variables shall be transmitted. Data and metadata referred to in Article 6 shall be made available to Eurostat in using                     the Single Entry Point services. The codes and code lists presented in the table below are indicative only. Data structure                     definitions and transmission formats are provided by the Commission (Eurostat).U.K.                  

### 1.**Background information on the individual**U.K.

### 2.**Access to information on learning possibilities and guidance**U.K.

### 3.**Participation in formal education and training**U.K.

### 4.**Participation in non-formal education and training**U.K.

### 5.**Difficulties in participation in formal and non-formal education and training**U.K.

### 6.**Participation in informal learning**U.K.

### 7.**Languages**U.K.

## ANNEX IIU.K.Sample and precision requirements

### 1.The Second Adult Education Survey data shall be based on nationally representative probability samples.U.K.

The weighting factors should be calculated taking into account in particular the probability of selection and the available                     external data relating to the distribution of the population being surveyed, according to sex, age groups (25-34; 35-54; 55-64),                     education (at most lower secondary education (ISCED level 1 or lower, ISCED 2 and ISCED 3 programmes of less than 2 years);                     upper secondary (ISCED levels 3 and 4); tertiary education (levels 5 to 8)); employment (employed or unemployed); region (NUTS                     II level), where such external data are held to be sufficiently reliable at national level.                  

### 2.According to the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 452/2008, the sample size of the Second Adult Education Survey shall be established                        on the basis of precision requirements that shall not require effective national sample sizes to be no larger than 5 000 individuals,                        calculated on the assumption of simple random sampling.U.K.

The absolute margin of error for the indicator mentioned in point 3 shall not exceed the threshold stipulated in point 3,                     unless this requires an effective national sample size larger than 5 000 individuals. In the latter case, the size of the                     required effective national sample shall be 5 000 individuals.                  

### 3.The Second Adult Education Survey should be designed in such a way that the estimate of the absolute margin of error does                        not exceed 1,4 percentage points for the estimated participation rate in non-formal education and training for the total reference                        population aged 25 to 64.U.K.

The same requirement is relaxed to a threshold of 1,7 percentage points for countries with a population aged 25 to 64 of one                     million to three and a half million.                  

The same requirement is relaxed to a threshold of 2,0 percentage points for countries with a population aged 25 to 64 of less                     than one million.                  

### 4.The absolute margin of error mentioned in point 3 is the half-length of the 95 % confidence interval.U.K.

Effective national sample sizes should be adjusted for design effects and anticipated unit non-response to determine the real                     sample sizes at planning stage.                  

These requirements apply to a sample of resident individuals aged 25 to 64. In the case of national samples with a wider scope,                     estimates for the resident population aged 25 to 64 should comply with the precision requirements set out above.                  

## ANNEX IIIU.K.Quality requirements and standard quality report

A standard quality report shall be submitted in accordance with the European Statistical System Standard Quality Report Structure.                     Particular attention shall be given to relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability                     and coherence in accordance with Article 4(1)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 452/2008.                  

Member States shall submit a standard quality report as defined in Article 6 of this Regulation. They shall do so using the                     transmission formats the Commission (Eurostat) provides. A copy of the national questionnaire shall accompany the report.                  

The standard quality criteria shall be applied as follows.

### 1.RELEVANCEU.K.

          -  Implementation of the survey and the degree to which statistics meet current and potential users' needs. 
          -  Description and classification of users. 
          -  Individual needs of each user group. 
          -  Whether and to what degree those needs have been met. 

### 2.ACCURACYU.K.

#### 2.1.**Sampling errors**U.K.

          -  Description of the sample design and the actual sample. 
          -  Description of the calculation of the final weighting factors including the non-response model and auxiliary variables used. 
          -  Coefficients of variation of the estimates according to the sample strata with regard to the indicators of interest listed                           in Annex II, point 3.                         
          -  Variance estimation software. 
          -  A description of the auxiliary variables or information used. 
          -  With regard to non-response analysis, a description of the biases in the sample and the results. 

#### 2.2.**Non-sampling errors**U.K.

##### 2.2.1.*Coverage errors*U.K.

          -  Description of the register used for sampling and its overall quality. 
          -  Information included in the register and its updating frequency. 
          -  Errors due to the discrepancies between the sampling frame and the target population and sub-populations (over-coverage, under-coverage,                           misclassifications).                         
          -  Methods used to obtain this information. 
          -  Notes on the processing of misclassifications. 

##### 2.2.2.*Measurement errors*U.K.

Assessment of errors that occurred at the data collection stage, due for example to:
          -  The questionnaire design (results of pre-tests or laboratory methods; questioning strategies). 
          -  Reporting unit/respondent (respondents' reactions). 
          -  Data collection tools and the use of administrative records (correspondence between the administrative and the survey concepts,                           e.g. the reference period, the availability of individual data).                         
          -  Data collection modes. 

##### 2.2.3.*Processing errors*U.K.

Description of the data editing process:
          -  Processing system and tools used. 
          -  Errors due to coding, editing, weighting and tabulation, etc. 
          -  Quality checks at macro-/micro-level. 
          -  Breakdown of corrections and of failed edits into missing values, errors and anomalies. 

##### 2.2.4.*Non-response errors*U.K.

Description of the measures taken to contact respondents again:
          -  Unit and item response rates. 
          -  Assessment of unit non-response and item non-response. 
          -  Full report on imputation procedures including the methods used for imputation and/or re-weighting. 
          -  Methodological notes and the results of non-response analysis or other methods to assess the effects of non-response. 

### 3.TIMELINESS AND PUNCTUALITYU.K.

Table of dates showing when each of the following phases of the project started and ended: data collection, reminders and                     follow-up, checking and editing data, further validation and imputation, non-response survey (as appropriate), estimations,                     data transmission to Eurostat and the dissemination of national results.                  

### 4.ACCESSIBILITY AND CLARITYU.K.

          -  Conditions of access to data. 
          -  Plan for disseminating the results. 
          -  A copy of any methodological documents relating to the statistics provided. 

### 5.COMPARABILITYU.K.

As appropriate and relevant, countries should comment on:
          -  Deviations from the European questionnaire and definitions. 
          -  Whether the survey was linked to another national survey. 
          -  To what extent the survey was done using existing data in registers. 
          -  A description of how the requirements of this Regulation have been fulfilled so the comparability of the data can be assessed. 

### 6.COHERENCEU.K.

          -  Comparison of statistics for the same phenomenon or item from other surveys or sources. 
          -  Description of how the requirements of this Regulation have been fulfilled so the geographical comparability of the data can                           be assessed.                         

### 7.COST AND BURDENU.K.

Analysis of the burden and benefit at national level by considering the following for example:
          -  Average time for answering the questionnaire. 
          -  Problematic questions or modules from the survey. 
          -  Problems with the classification and definition of learning activities, problems with other classifications. 
          -  The variables which were most/least useful in collecting data on adult participation in lifelong learning. 
          -  Estimated or actual satisfaction level of national data users. 
          -  Respondent burden. 

Efforts made to reduce burden.

1

OJ L 145, 4.6.2008, p. 227.                           

2

Commission Regulation (EU) No 823/2010 of 17 September 2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 of the European Parliament                              and of the Council concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning, as regards                              statistics on the participation of adults in lifelong learning (OJ L 246, 18.9.2010, p. 33).