Guidance

DSIT release practice 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 the orderly release of statistics, including the operational arrangements for giving ministers and officials pre-release access to official statistics once they have attained their final form prior to publication. These arrangements are designed to ensure that DSIT statistics are in compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, Standards for Official Statistics: 

• Practice 3.11: Be transparent about your approach to the orderly release of statistics in a published release practice policy 

This policy ensures that access to all statistics prior to publication is justified, limited, controlled, and transparent. The purpose of these controls is to maintain public confidence in the integrity of official statistics while allowing ministers to account immediately for the implications of statistics covering policy areas for which they are responsible. 

2. Authority  

These arrangements have been drawn up by DSIT’s Chief Statistician, who is responsible for ensuring the day-to-day implementation of these arrangements, on behalf of the ministers and Permanent Secretary. 

3. Pre-announcement  

The department will keep DSIT’s release calendar on GOV.UK up to date for the following 12 months. Provisional release dates outline a 1 or 2 month expected release window and will be provided as soon as they are known. Specific release dates for official statistics will then be confirmed by DSIT at least 4 weeks in advance of publication. 

In the event of a change being required to a release date that has already been confirmed, DSIT will update the corresponding GOV.UK announcement, informing users of the reasons for the alteration.  

4. Publication materials 

Different publications use different methods for publishing statistics and statistical commentary. The methods used will provide content in accordance with accessibility guidelines, for example, OpenDocument Spreadsheets (ODS), and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages. Depending on the amount of commentary, this might be summarised directly to the GOV.UK page.  

5. Publication 

Official statistics (including accredited official statistics and official statistics in development) are published on the Statistics at DSIT page of GOV.UK at 9.30am on the day of release. Supporting materials explaining the methodology and quality of the statistics will be published with the initial release and updated as necessary. Related outputs may either be published alongside or separately and will be linked via an overarching topic. Contact details for the responsible analyst on the publication will also be provided.  

6. Pre-release access  

DSIT operates under the general principle that pre-release access to official statistics must be:  

• limited to the minimum number of persons deemed necessary to allow the minister to either:  

  1. provide responses to questions, or make statements about those statistics at, or shortly after, their time of publication; or  

  2. act at, or shortly after the time of publication  

• allowed in circumstances where the public benefit likely to result from such access outweighs the detriment to public trust in official statistics likely to result from so doing  

6.1 Grant of advance access  

The pre-release access arrangement set out in this policy is only provided to those persons who meet the eligibility criteria. Their advance access is limited to statistics which meet the eligibility criteria, and which are in their final form prior to being published for the first time.  

Where pre-release access is provided to official statistics produced by DSIT, the job titles of everyone to whom pre-release access was granted will be made available alongside the release.  

6.2 Period of access  

In line with the practices recommended in the Code of Practice for Statistics, and the legislative rules detailed in the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008, pre-release access to the organisation’s statistics is restricted to a maximum of 24 hours before their public release on the following day, usually at 9:30am.  

6.3 Conditions of access  

Those persons who are given access to DSIT’s statistics ahead of their release must keep the statistics secure and under embargo, and they must abide by certain conditions of access. They must avoid:  

• disclosing the statistics or any part of a publication containing those statistics to any person not listed as a pre-release recipient  

• providing any indication of the size or direction of any trend revealed by the statistics  

• using such access for personal gain, or taking any action for political advantage  

• exploiting such access to change or compromise the content, presentation, or timing of publication of official statistics  

6.4 Production Team 

In the context described above, the phrase ‘pre-release access’ covers privileged access to statistical releases in their final form prior to being placed in the public domain. It does not cover access available to those in the Production Team. This includes:  

• those staff intimately engaged in the process of producing and disseminating the statistics in question (including those responsible for overseeing this process)  

• people requested by the producers to quality assure the statistics before their public release  

6.5 Special circumstances for access prior to 24 hours 

In addition to the Production Team, the Chief Statistician may also allow access to statistics ahead of their release to a limited number of people in a limited number of special circumstances, sometimes for more than 24 hours. In each case, such access will be documented in the relevant 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 that they can incorporate the latest available figures  

• international organisations may gain access in order to compile supra-national statistics  

6.6 Criteria for granting pre-release access  

(1) Categories of people within government to whom DSIT would normally grant pre-release access to its statistical releases:  

• those ministers who have policy or operational responsibility for a particular subject-matter covered by a statistical release; who are accountable to Parliament and the electorate for their stewardship of that policy; and who may need to respond to questions about the statistics, or take appropriate action, at the time of release of those statistics  

• those chief executives who have operational responsibility for a particular activity covered by a release, and who are accountable for their stewardship of that activity to ministers, and through them to Parliament; and who are in a similar position to those ministers described above  

• the departmental or agency officials with ultimate responsibility for formulating, developing, maintaining, monitoring or implementing that policy  

• other departmental or agency officials who have been assigned the specific responsibility to brief ministers or chief executives about the statistics in question (such as special advisers, policy advisers, analysts)  

• departmental press officers responsible for managing ministers’ interface with the media with respect to the policy or statistics in question  

(2) Categories of statistical release which may be considered for pre‑release access, where the Chief Statistician judges that the public benefit outweighs any potential detriment to public trust, include:  

• releases categorised as market‑sensitive, meaning releases which embody statistics which, when disclosed, would be reasonably likely to have a significant effect on the value or traded volume of any investment 

• releases which incorporate statistics used to monitor or measure the government’s performance (either generally or against formal targets), where immediate ministerial accountability is required at the point of release 

• releases which have the potential to impinge substantially on the formulation, implementation, or monitoring of government policy, and where advance sight is necessary to enable an appropriate response at the time of publication 

• releases which have the potential to inform, or impact on, decisions about the allocation of public funds 

• releases which have demonstrably and historically had a high public profile, and where ministers or senior officials with responsibility for the subject matter may reasonably be expected to comment at the time of release 

• releases which incorporate statistics derived from other departments’ or agencies’ administrative or management systems, and for which ministers or senior officials in those other departments have ownership and operational responsibility 

• in exceptional circumstances, compendia publications or complex statistical releases which have been made available to the media in advance of their public release, under strict embargo arrangements, in order to support accurate and responsible reporting 

• releases which cover matters of wide public interest, where this interest creates a clear and demonstrable need for immediate explanation or action at the point of publication 

7. Concerns relating to conditions of release  

In the event that there is a concern that any of the principles and rules set out in the legislation and described in this statement have not been adhered to, the concern will be raised with the appropriate departmental lead, normally the Chief Statistician, as soon as possible. The Chief Statistician will use their professional judgement to determine whether the issue can be handled locally or should be escalated, and, where appropriate, will notify the National Statistician and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). Action will be taken to address the issue and prevent recurrence. The OSR may subsequently decide to follow up or investigate, depending on the severity of the issue and the risk posed to public trust in statistics. 

7.1 Sanctions against non-compliance  

DSIT’s Chief Statistician may, for a period, withdraw pre-release access from any person judged to have breached the conditions of their access.  

In addition, a heavier sanction can 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 2008 and with the associated obligations set out in this statement.  

The authority can, for instance, challenge an organisation where it considers that pre-release access is not justified or where an organisation is failing to conform with these arrangements. It can also withdraw, or consider withdrawing the accreditation of the official statistics designation from the statistics in question.  

8. Chief Statistician   

The accountable officer in the official statistics producer organisation that is given executive responsibility for decision making on statistical matters. Within DSIT the Chief Statistician is also the Head of Profession for Statistics.  

8.1 Heads of Profession for Statistics  

Where an official body produces National Statistics; produces an appreciable number of official statistics; produces particularly high-profile official statistics; or employs an appreciable number of statisticians, that organisation should appoint a Head of Profession for Statistics. Heads of Profession for Statistics have 3 main responsibilities:  

• to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics  

• to lead the Government Statistical Service (GSS)  

• to build statistical capability and capacity  

See the full list of responsibilities.   

8.2 Contacts 

For further information or enquiries please contact statistics@dsit.gov.uk.