Transparency data

Pre-release policy for statistical publications

Updated 8 March 2023

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2023

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofquals-statistics-policies-and-procedures/pre-release-policy-for-statistical-publications

To ensure that appropriate individuals are able to respond to questions arising from information in any of our statistical publications we give them access to the documents 24 hours before the documents are published on GOV.UK. By doing this we follow the rules and principles set out in the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008.

Only Ofqual’s Head of Profession for Statistics can grant pre-release access to our statistical publications. Individuals may request pre-release access from the Head of Profession who will check they meet our criteria for pre-release access as either:

  1. Individuals with policy or operational responsibility for a subject matter covered by the statistical publication and who may need to respond to questions about the statistics, or take appropriate action, when the publication is made public.
  2. Press officers responsible for communicating with the media with respect to the statistics in the publication.

Before the Head of Profession grants pre-release access, they must be satisfied the individual fully understands our pre-release terms and conditions. The individual must also reply to Ofqual’s Head of Profession agreeing to our pre-release terms and conditions.

We include our pre-release terms and conditions as a reminder with every pre-release report we issue The list of people allowed pre-release access to each publication is regularly reviewed.

Our Chair and Chief Regulator do not need to apply for pre-release access. They are automatically granted pre-release access on the understanding that they will comply with our pre-release terms and conditions.

1. Pre-release terms and conditions and notification text

This text will be amended as necessary and included in the email containing the publication sent from the Head of Profession to the authorised individual:

Please find attached a restricted version of [insert name and date of publication]. These bulletins are classed as Official Statistics and will be published on Ofqual’s website at 9.30am tomorrow, [insert date].

You are receiving privileged access to this bulletin 24 hours in advance of publication, in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Official Statistics and the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008. Please note that these documents are restricted to the named recipients only, and the contents should not be disclosed to any other individual before 9.30am tomorrow, [insert date].

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