UK Statistics Authority
responds to consultation on pre-release of official statistics
UNITED KINGDOM
STATISTICS AUTHORITY News Release (2) issued by The Government News
Network on 3 March 2008
The new UK
Statistics Authority (UKSA) has today urged the Government further
to tighten the rules by which Ministers and their officials are
allowed privileged access to statistics before they are published.
Responding to a Government consultation, Chair-designate of the
UKSA Sir Michael Scholar said, "the Government's
proposals, while themselves a great improvement on previous
practice, are simply not strong enough to combat the public
perception that there is political interference in the production
and presentation of statistical outputs."
The Government has proposed 24 hours advance notice. The UKSA has
called for the period to be reduced to 3 hours in line with
international best practice. The Authority has also called for a
large reduction in the number of officials who receive access and
in the range of outputs where pre-release access is granted at all.
Sir Michael explained that "the Authority's concern
about pre-release access arises directly from our task of
improving public confidence in Official Statistics. While the
Government retains the right to determine rules on pre-release
this task is made more difficult. We therefore urge the Government
to implement the Authority's proposals and seize this
opportunity to raise standards and build trust."
The Authority is created by the Statistics and Registration
Service Act 2007 and its members have recently been appointed. It
takes up its powers in April.
The Authority's response to the Government's
consultation document "Limiting pre-release access to
statistics" is published below
LIMITING PRE-RELEASE ACCESS TO STATISTICS: A CONSULTATION DOCUMENT
1. I am writing on behalf of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA),
in response to the Consultation document issued in December 2007.
2. Although not formally established until 1 April 2008, the UKSA
has discussed this topic at each of its first two
'shadow' meetings. The Authority considers pre-release
access to be of major importance because of its central relevance
to our task of improving public trust in Official Statistics. The
Authority believes that its task is made more difficult by the
provision in the Statistics Act which gives the Government the
right to determine the details of the pre-release regime.
Observers at home and in other countries are likely to regard this
as the retention of an inappropriate political influence in a key
part of the statistical production and dissemination process,
whose rules ought to be determined independently. For this reason
we feel strongly that the Authority, and not Ministers, should be
responsible for decisions about pre-release. We think that it
would be possible to achieve such an outcome within the provisions
of the Act if the Government were to announce that it will
henceforward implement the Authority's recommendations on
this issue in full, and we think that such a statement would be
widely welcomed both in the UK and overseas.
3. We accept that there is a principled case for allowing
relevant Ministers and their officials to have some limited
privileged pre-release access to statistics in their final form.
We are persuaded that in the current political environment it is
necessary for Ministers to be able to comment upon statistics,
once they have been released.
4. However, we feel that the proposals made in the consultation
document - themselves a great improvement on previous practice -
are simply not strong enough to combat the public's
misgivings about politicians' involvement with Official
Statistics - the perception that there is political interference
in the production and presentation of statistical outputs, and
that the Government does not use official figures honestly.
5. The recently published report of a review of ONS'
compliance with the European Statistics Code of Practice
considered the issue of pre-release. It described the current
situation as only 'partly' meeting the Code, whilst the
Government's proposals would 'largely' meet it.
However, it is probable that the Authority's proposals, as
set out in this letter, would fully meet the requirements of the
Code. The Authority believes that it would be very desirable for
the UK fully to meet the European Code.
6. In terms of public trust, the Authority is not inheriting a
balanced or neutral position. On the contrary, all the evidence
suggests that levels of trust are worryingly low. It will take
time and effort to improve the position. This is why we are
convinced that the UK should meet international best practice on pre-release.
7. In particular we consider that:
(a) the range of outputs to which pre-release access might be
granted should be reduced considerably, to a core of the most
significant economic releases only - those releases currently
categorised as "market sensitive" National Statistics
(see footnote 1). If Ministers want pre-release access to other
statistical products then they should be obliged to apply to the
Authority, which would publish its reasoned decision.
(b) the period of pre-release access should be reduced
considerably more than the Government has proposed - to a maximum
of 3 hours, as proposed by the Treasury Select Committee - noting
that this will necessitate some operational changes to the day and
time of publication of the affected statistics. This is still
looser than in some countries, but we believe that it is
sufficient to allow officials to work with Ministers to identify
the key messages for them, so that they can respond to questions
once the figures are released. It also provides Ministers with
protection to the extent that it reduces considerably the risk
that they inadvertently comment about statistics which have not at
the time been published.
(c) only relevant Ministers and, at most, one or two briefing
officials should receive privileged pre-release access. We note
that in other countries, very few people see the figures before
they are released and we consider that reducing this privilege to
a small handful of people with a well-defined need to see the
figures in advance would be welcomed by Parliament and the public.
(d) whilst there should be scope for consideration of special
circumstances, these should be far more stringent than those
proposed. In particular, it should be for the Authority to decide
whether others should receive pre-release access, and under what
circumstances.
(e) it is widely accepted that where
pre-release access is allowed, the arrangements should be
transparent. This includes publishing details showing who has
early access to particular statistics, when, and for what purpose.
We firmly endorse this approach. Furthermore, we believe it would
be appropriate to reflect the requirements on Ministers (not to
seek, or allow others to seek, to make political capital by virtue
of their privileged pre-release access) in the Ministerial Code.
We consider this would be of both practical and symbolic
importance.
(f) there is an important issue over pre-release
access to statistics not yet in their final form. The Consultation
paper suggests this be dealt with in the UKSA's Code of
Practice. We agree. In doing so we will work closely with the
departments of the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations.
Our objective will be to balance the interests of good
administration with those of statistical integrity to produce
proposals that will improve public confidence.
8. We also have
a principled preference for common UK standards for pre-release.
It is a concern to us that if different Administrations were to
operate different release practices, critical comparisons between
these practices would be made, and the reputation of all Official
Statistics and their producers might suffer in consequence. There
may be occasion when a different approach is appropriate but we
consider this would be exceptional and would expect a very strong
justification in order to be able to support it.
9. The
Authority has considered the Statistics Commission's response
to this consultation exercise, and fully endorses the detailed
comment set out in it. In particular:
(a) we too welcome the proposal in the consultation document
(paragraph 3.16) to give a formal role in applying pre-release
principles and rules to departmental Heads of Profession. The
footnote to 3.17 adds that it is intended that Heads of Profession
will play the central role in practice. This needs to be
reflected in the Order itself, either directly or indirectly,
perhaps by means of a requirement on 'the person
responsible' to draw up arrangements which give the
departmental Head of Profession for Statistics, or other
appropriate official, the central role.
(b) we too note that the drafting of the Order treats pre-release
access as if it relates only to sets of figures. But in reality
it will often be the words that accompany the statistics that are
most sensitive. It is thus particularly important that the only
document to which pre-release access can be granted is the actual
text of the statistical release, not selected items from it or any
other comment or statement about the statistics.
10. It has been suggested that the Authority's officials
might work with Cabinet Office on measures to assess how well the
first year of operation of the pre-release rules has gone. We are
content with this, but should note that we expect to produce our
own review of the new pre-release arrangements. Indeed, we
consider that this should be a task for the Authority rather than
the Government.
11. In summary, the Authority regards the current consideration
of pre-release access to be a major opportunity to raise
standards, and build trust. Expectations and optimism are running
high, and we urge the Government to seize the opportunity to make
the proposals outlined above, and so to continue the successful
reform of UK statistics.
Yours sincerely
Michael Scholar
Chair-designate of the UK
Statistics Authority
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