Guidance

Pre-release access policy

Published 14 November 2022

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is responsible for protecting every member of every community from the impact of infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents and other health threats. We provide intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage, to make the nation’s health secure.

We publish a wide range of official statistics, management information, research and analysis and technical reports to inform decision-makers, policy-makers and the public about matters within our remit. Where that remit overlaps with other organisations, we work with them to ensure statistics are coherent, fit-for-purpose and are delivered for the public good.

1. Introduction

This statement is issued in accordance with the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008 made under Section 11 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (the “legislation” in this statement).

In this policy, “statistics” refers to those outputs published as official statistics, those assessed as National Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation and those voluntarily complying with the Code of Practice for Statistics. Publications which voluntarily comply with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and are unable to comply with this policy in full will account for this in their statement of voluntary compliance.

This statement sets out the operational arrangements in UKHSA for giving ministers and officials pre-release access to statistics in their final form prior to publication. These arrangements are designed to ensure that such access is justified, limited, controlled and publicised and complies with statutory requirements. Their purpose is to maintain public confidence in the integrity of statistics while allowing ministers to account immediately for the implications of statistics covering policy areas for which they are democratically responsible.

2. Exclusion

Pre-release access arrangements do not apply to ministers’ and officials’ access to the organisation’s own administrative or management data, even where those data subsequently form the basis for published statistics.

Pre-release access arrangements, as defined in this policy, are not necessary for:

• those staff intimately engaged in the process of producing and disseminating the statistics in question (including those responsible for overseeing this process)
• those persons requested to quality assure the statistics before their public release

3. Policy

3.1 General principle

UKHSA operates under the general principle that pre-release access to statistics in their final form must be:

• limited to the minimum number of persons deemed necessary to allow the minister or accountable person to either:
  • provide responses to questions, or make statements about those statistics at, or shortly after, their time of publication
  • take action before, at, or shortly after the time of publication
• allowed only 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

3.2 Granting of pre-release access

Recipients of pre-release access must meet the eligibility criteria set out in Appendix A below. Recipients can, in addition, share their access with their immediate administrative support staff even though those staff may not directly engage with the statistics in question.

Their advance access is limited to statistics which meet the eligibility criteria set out in Appendix B below, and which are in their final form prior to being published for the first time.

Recipients must agree to the conditions of access in advance of receipt of the statistics.

Pre-release access arrangements and lists must be agreed in advance with the Head of Profession for Statistics.

3.3 Conditions of access

Those persons who are given access to UKHSA’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, including general statements such as “favourable” or “unfavourable”
• 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

3.4 Period of access

In line with legislation, pre-release access to the organisation’s official statistics is restricted to a maximum of 24 hours before their public release on the following day.

3.5 Documentation and publication

In the interests of openness and transparency, publication of an official statistic will also be accompanied by a pre-release access list (consisting of job titles and departmental affiliations). The justification for giving advance access to each listed recipient will be available on request.

3.6 Special circumstances

In exceptional circumstances only, and in accordance with the legislation, the Head of Profession, may grant pre-release access in excess of 24 hours to a limited number of recipients. They will only do this if, in their opinion, the public benefit outweighs the detriment to public trust, which is likely to result from such extended access. 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.

When this happens, the Head of Profession will:

• publish their reasons for granting extended access
• inform the UK Statistics Authority’s Chief Executive (the National Statistician) and the Office for Statistics Regulation’s Director General for Regulation

4. Non-compliance with the pre-release access policy

The Head of Profession for Statistics is responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy within UKHSA and has discretion over how they respond to breaches or non-compliance. There is a range of possible responses, and it is for the Head of Profession to decide the most appropriate course of action in the circumstances.

If the breach was minor in nature and resulted in no damage to the integrity of the statistics involved, they may choose to deal with the matter informally through internal discussion. In seeking to avoid any breach being repeated, the Head of Profession may decide, for example, to remove pre-release access from an individual.

In the event of a serious breach, the Head of Profession will:

• notify the UK Statistics Authority’s Chief Executive (the National Statistician) and the Office for Statistics Regulation’s Director General for Regulation
• take action to prevent a recurrence
• provide the UK Statistics Authority with a written explanation

In the event of a serious breach, the National Statistician may decide to conduct an inquiry, the results of which will be posted on the UK Statistics Authority’s website.

In addition, the UK Statistics Authority can challenge an organisation where it considers that pre-release access is not justified or where an organisation is failing to comply with the legislation. It can also withdraw, or consider withdrawing, ‘National Statistics’ designation from the statistics in question if relevant. In the event of any such challenge or any such withdrawal, the Head of Profession will publish a response on the appropriate website along with plans for achieving compliance.

5. Roles and responsibilities

This policy has been compiled by the UKHSA Head of Profession for Statistics. The Head of Profession is professionally accountable to the National Statistician for compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics and other professional standards.

This policy applies to all staff with responsibility for the production and release of statistics in UKHSA.

6. Appendix A: Recipients of pre-release access

Categories of persons to whom UKHSA would normally grant pre-release access to its statistics:

• those ministers who have policy 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
• Senior officials (in UKHSA, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) or other departments) who have operational responsibility for a particular activity covered by a release
• other officials (in UKHSA, DHSC or other departments) who have been assigned the specific responsibility to brief ministers or senior officials about the statistics in question (e.g. special advisers, policy advisers, analysts, clinicians, scientists, epidemiologists)
• Press Officers (in UKHSA, DHSC or other departments) responsible for managing interface with the media with respect to the policy or statistics in question
• any immediate ancillary staff (in UKHSA, DHSC or other departments) who support the above

7. Appendix B: Statistics suitable for pre-release access

Categories of statistics to which the UKHSA Head of Profession for Statistics would normally grant pre-release access:

• releases which incorporate statistics which are used to monitor or measure the performance of the public health system (either generally, or against formal outcome measures)
• releases which have the potential to impinge substantially on the formulation, implementation, or monitoring of health security policy
• 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 (i.e. regularly generate coverage in the media) and on which ministers or senior officials (in UKHSA, DHSC or other departments) with responsibility for the subject-matter might reasonably be expected to comment at the time of release
• releases which cover matters of wide public interest