Defra Statistical Confidentiality Policy
Published 3 September 2026
© Crown copyright 2026
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Introduction
Defra (the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs), with its Arms’ Length Bodies (ALBs), follows the requirements set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code) when publishing our statistics.
The Standards for Official Statistics in the Code of Practice for Statistics edition 3.0 requires Defra to publish a confidentiality policy statement informing users of how Defra ensures compliance with the principles of trustworthiness. The policy will be adopted by core Defra statistics teams and by any teams in our ALBs who wish to do so in preference to publishing their own policy.
Policy statement
Data management
We protect information about individuals and businesses by:
- Using Service Level Agreements when sharing data with other government departments or external bodies.
- Using secure data transfer methods when sharing data with other government departments or external bodies.
- Providing statements for respondents to data collection exercises which detail the purpose of data collection, how the data will be used, how long the data will be retained and who will be able to access the data.
- Storing data on secure computer systems which are subject to access control mechanisms and restrict access to trained staff who understand their responsibilities under data protection laws.
- Anonymising sensitive data.
Statistical disclosure control
Statistical Disclosure Control (SDC) is the application of methods to reduce the risk of disclosive information about data subjects. To protect against information about data subjects being disclosed we:
- Assess the risk of disclosure of sensitive data on a case-by-case basis. This includes assessing factors such as the characteristics of the population, the level of aggregation of the data and potential consequences of disclosure.
- Provide guidance and training on how to identify data which might be disclosive and techniques for managing disclosive data.
Where disclosure control is deemed necessary to protect confidentiality, the most appropriate method of disclosure control will be used with the aim of minimising the risk of disclosure while maximising the utility of the statistics.