Guidance

FCDO statistics: statement on pre-release access

Published 19 December 2023

This document sets out the FCDO’s approach to the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order and how it provides access to official statistics before publication. The FCDO approach ensures such access is justified, controlled, publicised and compliant with statutory requirements. This ensures public confidence and the integrity of our statistical outputs are maintained whilst enabling officials to explain the implications of published statistics in a timely manner.

Pre-release access refers to privileged access to statistical releases in their final form, before they are made available in the public domain. It does not refer to the access available to staff who:

• produce and disseminate the statistics, including for those overseeing this process
• are asked to quality assure the statistics before their public release

The FCDO’s accredited official statistics, Statistics on International Development comply with the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order as required by the Code of Practice for Statistics (‘the Code’). All other published Statistics at FCDO adhere to its principles as far as possible under voluntary compliance as set out in the FCDO statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics Policy.

The Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics oversee pre-release access arrangements.

Exclusion

Ministers’ and officials’ access to the FCDO’s own administrative and management data are not included in the remit of the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order and therefore excluded from pre-release access arrangements.

General principle

Pre-release access to official statistics is limited to the minimum number of people deemed necessary to allow ministers or officials to:

• make statements about the published statistics at the time of publication
• respond to queries relating to the statistics in a timely manner
• take action just before, at, or just after the time of publication

Pre-release access arrangements are put in place when the public benefit from such access is deemed to outweigh any detrimental impact to public trust in the statistics.

Grant of pre-release access

Pre-release access is only granted to individuals who meet the following eligibility criteria:

• senior officials with policy or operational responsibility for a particular activity covered by a release, and who are accountable for their stewardship of that activity to ministers and Parliament, and who may need to respond to questions about the statistics or take appropriate action at the time of the publication of the statistics
• ministers with policy or operational responsibility for a particular activity covered by a release, and who are accountable for their stewardship of that activity to Parliament and the electorate, and who may need to respond to questions about the statistics or take appropriate action at the time of the publication of the statistics
• officials with ultimate responsibility for formulating, developing, maintaining, monitoring or implementing the policy relating to the statistics
• officials assigned the responsibility of briefing ministers or Chief Executives about the statistics (for example, special advisers, policy advisers, analysts)
• press officers responsible for managing communications with the media about the policy or statistics in question

The criteria used to decide the granting of pre-release access to FCDO statistics include:

• the importance or profile of the statistics
• the influence or impact on public policy, behaviour of sections of society or to the allocations of government resources as a result of the publication of the statistics
• statistics relating important targets
• statistics on which ministers, or officials, would be expected to comment on to the media at, or shortly after the publication
• statistics on which ministers, or officials, would be expected to answer questions on in Parliament at, or shortly after the publication

Documentation and publication

In the interests of openness and transparency, the FCDO publishes a pre-release access list alongside our national and official statistics publications where this applies. This list contains the job titles of all individuals who have been granted pre-release access to the statistics, along with the organisation to which they belong.

Period of access

Pre-release access to the FCDO’s official statistics is restricted to a maximum of 24 hours prior to publication stamp of 9:30am.

In exceptional circumstances, and in accordance with Principle 5 of the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order, the Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics, may grant pre-release access for more than 24 hours before public release if, in their opinion, the public benefit outweighs the possible detriment to public trust.

Should this happen, the Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics will publish the reasons for granting extended access and will inform the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, the National Statistician and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), ahead of publication.

Conditions of access

Individuals provided with pre-release access to the FCDO’s official statistics ahead of their publication must adhere to strict conditions to keep the statistics secure and under embargo, avoiding:

• disclosure of the statistics, or any part of the publication containing the statistics
• provide any indication of the size or direction of any trend revealed by the statistics
• use such access for personal gain or take any action for political advantage
• exploit such access to change or compromise the content, presentation or timing of the publication of the statistics

Special circumstances

The Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics may allow access to a limited number of individuals in a limited number of special circumstances, for more than 24 hours ahead of release. For example:

• access may be given to the compilers of complementary reports due to be published at the same time as, or shortly after, the statistics so they can incorporate the latest available figures. Such access may be for longer than 24 hours
• international organisations may require access in order to compile supra-national statistics

Breach of the conditions

In the event of a significant breach of the principles set out in this statement, the Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics will follow the guidance on Reporting concerns under the Code of Practice for Statistics by notifying the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, the National Statistician and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), in line with the Code. Remedial actions will also be taken to prevent any recurrence of such breaches.

Where the Chief Statistician/Head of Profession considers that a breach was minor, with no resulting damage to the integrity of the statistics involved, they may choose to deal with the matter informally through internal discussion.

Sanctions against non-compliance

The Chief Statistician/Head of Profession for Statistics may, permanently or temporarily, withdraw pre-release access from any individual judged to have breached the conditions of their access.

A heavier sanction may be imposed by the UK Statistics Authority, which has a statutory duty to assess the extent to which any organisation’s national statistics comply with the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order, and the duties within it.

The UK Statistics Authority can, for instance, challenge an organisation where it considers that pre-release access is not justified or where an organisation is failing to follow these arrangements. It can also withdraw national statistics accreditation of official statistics and use its right to report any breach to Parliament.