Guidance

DSIT confidentiality policy for official statistics

Updated 12 May 2026

1. Introduction 

This policy sets out the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT) approach to protecting confidentiality when producing statistics. It ensures that all statistics producers manage data and statistics safely and securely and are open about how data will be used and protected, so that the public can be confident about providing their own information for official statistics. These arrangements are designed to ensure that DSIT statistics are in compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, Standards for Official Statistics: 

• Practice 4.5: Protect the confidentiality of individual and business information when producing statistics. Be transparent about the choices made in line with the producer’s published confidentiality policy and apply appropriate disclosure control methods before release 

2. Confidentiality 

To ensure confidentiality, we: 

• require all DSIT staff to complete mandatory UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) training 

• keep confidential information secure and restrict access to trained staff who understand their responsibilities under data protection laws 

• clearly explain our confidentiality protections to survey participants including through publicly available privacy notices 

• balance privacy protections made to data subjects with the need to produce useful statistics 

• share confidential statistical data with other organisations for statistical purposes only; these organisations must sign a data sharing agreement outlining the intended use and protection measures and we maintain detailed records of all data transfers 

• apply disclosure control to numbers wherever it is needed to prevent identification of individuals, or the release of private information 

3. Data standards 

Each statistical dataset maintained by DSIT from which official statistics outputs are produced to ensure data is held in line with the Data Governance Operating Model. Each critical dataset will have a specified ‘Data Owner’. They are accountable for the overall management of a specific dataset or a group of datasets within DSIT. Data Owners work with Data Stewards and the Data Acquisition team to ensure the management of each dataset is compliant and value-adding. A ‘Data Steward’ is someone who oversees the day-to-day operations when managing a dataset. They are the Subject Matter Expert (SME) of the dataset and should be the first port of call for most activities relating to the dataset. The ‘Data User’ is an individual who utilises data for analysis, reporting, decision-making, or other business activities. They are expected to follow established governance policies and practices. 

DSIT adheres to the requirements of UK GDPR in the processing of personal data. All needed risk assessments, data sharing agreements, service level agreements, and procurements follow standard departmental procedures to ensure compliance with UK GDPR. Personal data is retained for the minimum period required, according to data protection principles, and disposed of in a secure and responsible manner.  

All staff working in DSIT and all visitors to its sites require a pass to access the premises. This pass must be worn at all times. There is no public access to any part of the organisation where confidential statistical data may be held. Information is classified according to standard government security classifications and managed according to its sensitivity, value, and criticality. Staff regularly monitor and review information security arrangements to ensure that policy, standards and procedures remain relevant and effective.   

Mechanisms used to transmit micro-data will be appropriate to the sensitivity of the data and its classifications and will be encrypted as necessary. Where micro-data is owned by a department or organisation other than DSIT, arrangements for access are in accordance with the service level agreements, contracts or other confidentiality agreements between DSIT and the data owners. Access to micro-data collected and owned by DSIT is determined by the guarantees given to the data suppliers or contributors and is in accordance with statistical legislation covering the collection of these data or with the appropriate principles for the collection and use of administrative data. 

4. Data storage 

Sensitive data used for the production of official statistics are stored within DSIT’s secure analytical platforms, including the Cloud‑Based Analytical System (CBAS) and its successor, the Cloud Analytical Tooling Solution (CATS). These platforms are designed to hold data up to OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE and operate as closed analytical environments with restricted, role‑based access.  

Personal and sensitive datasets are subject to named‑user access controls, in line with data sharing agreements. In CATS, metadata on personal datasets is collected on ingest and this metadata (but not the data itself) made clearly available to potential users in a data catalogue. This includes usage restrictions and whether the personal data contains special category information, ensuring users have a clear understanding of what they can and cannot use this data for before they request access.  

Access will be granted by assigned Data Stewards, and only in line with controls in data sharing agreements. All personal data stored on CATS will have a corresponding Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA). The Data Acquisition team will support analysts to draft this for approval by the Data Protection team.   

The Data Acquisition team will monitor data sharing agreements and ensure datasets are deleted from all DSIT analytical environments at the end of the agreed usage period. 

5. Disclosure control 

This policy sets out statistical disclosure standards that provide minimum requirements to ensure confidentiality of individuals and individual entities within data held by DSIT. It covers disclosure control of official statistics, and other published statistics and data.  

Sufficient checks will be carried out to ensure that figures are not released which could be disclosive. These checks follow the guidance provided by the Analysis Function website, covering microdata produced from social surveys, administrative data and disclosure control for tables produced from surveys. These provide frameworks for assessing potentially disclosive information and methodologies for suppression to uphold confidentiality in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. These assessments allow official statistics to balance the usability of data while protecting disclosure. 

UK GDPR applies when sharing personal data. Data sharing agreements may have specific disclosure restrictions, and individuals with access to such data will be aware of any restrictions specified as part of the access agreements for the datasets involved.  

6. Survey data 

Access to DSIT survey microdata is provided through managed access routes such as the UK Data Service. Levels of access reflect the sensitivity of the data and range from anonymised datasets to more restricted access arrangements, in line with respondent assurances and statistical legislation. This ensures: 

• personal data collected through the survey are only used to administer the survey and to produce aggregate statistics 

• published outputs are fully anonymised statistics, ensuring individuals cannot be identified in releases 

• any sharing beyond contractors (e.g. with other government departments or the Office for National Statistics (ONS)) is limited to pseudonymised data for research and statistical purposes only, excluding direct identifiers such as names, full addresses, phone numbers or email addresses 

7. Non-disclosive information 

Business site locations, addresses, or identifiers that are:  

• already publicly available (e.g. Companies House, published registers) 

• used only as contextual or frame information 

Publicly available administrative or register‑based information when published in non‑disclosive form.