Statistical processing

Source data

Data is reported by the 98 municipalities in Denmark. Regarding supportive measures for children and youth, municipalities have the option to utilize a computerized system that directly transmits data to Statistics Denmark, which processes the data on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Housing, and Senior Citizens. Alternatively, municipalities can choose to report data using a web-based platform provided by Statistics Denmark, accessible through virk.dk or the information webpage of the statistics.

Frequency of data collection

Reports on supportive measures, granted to children and youth, are gathered on a daily basis from most the municipalities. In some few cases, the data are collected on a monthly or yearly basis.

Data collection

Data are transmitted via different system-to-system solutions and/or by using a web-based platform, provided by Statistics Denmark.

Data validation

The statistical data are validated annually in cooperation with the municipalities. Each municipality receives a list containing relevant numbers of children and youth, classified by the type of received measure, as well as the total amount of measures classified by each type found in the registry of Statistics Denmark. The compilation is sent to each municipality for validation and approval.

As a general rule, non-approved data may be included in the publication of the statistics. In such cases, a note will be issued in Statbank Denmark along with relevant documentation describing the scope and nature of the irregularity. If the irregularities are significant, Statistics Denmark may choose to omit the data of the municipality in question upon publication of the statistics. If a municipality cannot approve the reported data, a process is initiated whereby Statistics Denmark and relevant ministries work with the municipality to correct the underlying issues before the next year's publication of the statistics.

Data compilation

The validated data, originating from municipal IT systems and the web-based platform of Statistics Denmark, are integrated. All collected data must comply with the regulations stated in the Executive Order on Data Transmission in the Social Policy Area. The principles defined in the Executive Order facilitate effective integration of newly collected data into the base dataset.

Data from the base registry is linked together to form longitudinal data and enriched with information from Statistics Denmark's population registry. Errors in social security numbers are compiled in a list, and tests for duplicate records are performed before the data is published.

Municipalities have varying practices regarding the administration and registration of supportive measures. For example, some municipalities may register measures as one or several continuous measures, while others may choose to register many short, sequential measures. To standardize the reported data, Statistics Denmark conducts overlap treatment of the received data.

The process includes the following steps:

• Measures are linked or processed together if they are identical, overlap in time, and are granted by the same municipality to the same child or young person.

• Identical measures granted to a child or young person by the same municipality are linked or processed together if there is a timespan of 14 days or less between the measures granted.

In such cases, the start date and end date of the reported measures are determined.

Some measures may be granted to the parents of the child or young person. In such cases, the measure is typically registered with the child's or young person's CPR number (social security number), even if the measure was granted to the parent. If a municipality cannot register such a case with a child's or young person's CPR number, the measure is registered with the CPR number of the parent. This practice may occur, for instance, if a pregnant parent has received a preventive measure or if a parent resides in a different municipality than the child. Such instances are usually associated with cases granted under Section 54 of the Act on Social Services. Cases registered with the parent's CPR number are not presented in the StatBank tables but are included in the registry itself. Therefore, data on Section 54 of the Social Services Act presented in StatBank Denmark are slightly underestimated compared to the data contained in the registry.

Adjustment

No corrections are made besides those corrections, described in the chapters dealing with data validation and data processing.