Guidance

Statistics release policy

Published 27 August 2026

Introduction  

This statement sets out the statistics release policy for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). It covers the operational processes for releasing official statistics, including the 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 maintain public confidence in the integrity of official statistics while allowing ministers to respond to questions and to comment or act on statistics covering policy areas for which they are democratically responsible. 

Authority 

These arrangements have been drawn up by the department’s Head of Profession for Statistics in consultation with the responsible minister and the department’s Permanent Secretary. The Head of Profession for Statistics is also responsible for ensuring the day-to-day implementation of these arrangements.

Pre-announcement 

Official statistics are pre-announced via the 12-month release calendar on GOV.UK. The provisional month of release is generally announced 12 months in advance and the specific release dates are published at least 4 weeks in advance where possible. 

Changes to pre-announced release dates are approved by the Head of Profession for Statistics. Where a date needs to be changed, the release calendar is updated promptly including a reason where a specific date is changed.

Timing 

Release dates are selected to ensure statistics are released as soon as they are ready, allowing sufficient time for quality assurance. Most of our official statistics are regular releases with a predictable annual, quarterly, monthly or weekly release schedule. 

Official statistics are published at 9.30am. 

Pre-release access 

MHCLG 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 a minister to provide responses to questions; make statements about those statistics at, or shortly after, their time of publication; take action just before, at, or shortly after the time of publication

• allowed only in those circumstances where the public benefit likely to result from such access outweighs the detriment to public trust in official statistics that may also result

Pre-release access to the department’s official statistics is restricted to a maximum of 24 hours before their public release on the following day usually at 9.30am.

In the interests of openness and transparency, a list of official statistics to which this statement applies and the job titles of all those persons to whom pre-release access has been granted, and the organisations to which they belong is available at: Statistics at MHCLG. 

The justification for giving advance access to each listed recipient is available on request. More general criteria describing the types of roles that might typically be granted pre-release access is set out under Criteria for granting pr-release access below. 

In the context described here, 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 pre-release access available to:

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

• staff who are requested by producers of statistics to quality assure their statistics before their public release  

However, the restrictions listed under Conditions of access do still apply to those staff.

Criteria for granting pre-release access

The types of staff within government to whom MHCLG would normally grant pre-release access to its statistical releases are described below:

• 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

• 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 (e.g. 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

Where a Private Office inbox, such as a minister’s, special advisor’s or senior official’s, is available to a number of people, individuals performing that function will be able to see the figures and are bound by the same handling rules. 

The types of statistical release to which MHCLG would normally grant pre-release are described below:

• releases categorised as ‘market-sensitive’ (i.e. releases which, when disclosed, would be reasonably likely to have a significant effect on the value or traded volume of any investment). Currently, none of MHCLG’s statistics fit into this category

• releases which incorporate statistics which are used to monitor, measure, or benchmark the government’s performance - either generally, or against formal targets - or the outcome of public policy

• releases which have the potential to substantially influence the development, implementation, or evaluation of government policy

• releases which have the potential to influence or directly affect decisions about the allocation of public funds

• releases which have, demonstrably and historically, had a high public profile (i.e. regularly generate media coverage and public debate) and on which ministers or chief executives with responsibility for the subject-matter might 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 chief executives in those other departments have ownership and operational responsibility

• compendia publications (which often include data which has already been released) or complex publications which may have been made available to the media in advance of their public release, and under embargo, in order to give journalists time to absorb and understand their contents

• releases which cover matters of wide public interest

Conditions of access

Those persons who are given access to the department’s official statistics ahead of their release must keep the statistics secure and under embargo, and they must abide by the following 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

Statistics shared before release are clearly marked and recipients required to actively agree to these conditions.

Breach of conditions of release

In the event that we become aware that a lapse in release practices for any of our designated Official Statistics has led to a substantive breach of the principles and rules set out in the legislation and described in this Statement, the Head of Profession for Statistics will notify the National Statistician and the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and take action to prevent a recurrence.

OSR may decide to conduct an inquiry, the results of which will be posted on the OSR website. In the case of minor breaches, or genuinely accidental breaches which have no major repercussions, the Head of Profession may deal with the matter informally.

Sanctions against non-compliance

The department’s Head of Profession for Statistics 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 Official 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 to these arrangements. It can also withdraw, or consider withdrawing, accreditation from the statistics in question.

In the event of any such challenge or withdrawal the Head of Profession will publish the department’s response or reaction on its website along with its plans for achieving compliance in future.

Other arrangements

Different arrangements apply to ministers’ and officials’ access to the department’s own administrative or management data where those data subsequently form the basis for published official statistics.

Guidance on this has been set out separately by the National Statistician in National Statistician’s guidance: management information and official statistics.