
about NISRA Corporate Documents Statistics Advisory Committee Official Statistics Code of Practice Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Compliance National Statistics Products Monitoring and Assessment of Official Statistics NISRA Outputs NISRA information areas Central Survey Unit Equality Census NINIS NICA Demography GRO Deprivation Official Statistics Search NISRA To search NISRA website enter keywords below	Pre-Release Access To Official Statistics The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 does not allow for the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (published by UK Statistics Authority in January 2009 and which replaces the previous National Statistics Code of Practice and associated Protocols) to include rules relating to pre-release access. Prerelease arrangements are set out in secondary legislation by each administration. In Northern Ireland the Minister of Finance and Personnel (as Minister responsible for statistics) brought forward an Order which sets out the rules and principles governing the conditions under which Northern Ireland Ministers and others may receive prerelease access to Northern Ireland devolved statistics in their final form. The Prerelease Access To Official Statistics Order (Northern Ireland) 2009 came into operation on 1st April 2009 and includes details of when prerelease can occur, who is entitled to access, for how long and under what conditions. The key elements of the legislation are: Limiting prerelease access to a strict maximum of 24 hours; requiring that prerelease access be limited to the minimum necessary number of people and the minimum number of statistics; and requiring that, where prerelease access is granted, it shall be done in an open and transparent manner, with details documented and published. Each NI Department is implementing these arrangements and will publish a compliance statement to this effect over the coming months. The report below provides details of a one-year review of the operation of the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics legislation in Northern Ireland. One-year review of the operation of the 'Pre-release Access to Official Statistics' legislation in Northern Ireland

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Pre-Release Access To Official Statistics

The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 does not allow for the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (published by UK Statistics Authority in January 2009 and which replaces the previous National Statistics Code of Practice and associated Protocols) to include rules relating to pre-release access. Prerelease arrangements are set out in secondary legislation by each administration.

In Northern Ireland the Minister of Finance and Personnel (as Minister responsible for statistics) brought forward an Order which sets out the rules and principles governing the conditions under which Northern Ireland Ministers and others may receive prerelease access to Northern Ireland devolved statistics in their final form. The Prerelease Access To Official Statistics Order (Northern Ireland) 2009 came into operation on 1st April 2009 and includes details of when prerelease can occur, who is entitled to access, for how long and under what conditions.

The key elements of the legislation are:

Limiting prerelease access to a strict maximum of 24 hours;

requiring that prerelease access be limited to the minimum necessary number of people and the minimum number of statistics; and

requiring that, where prerelease access is granted, it shall be done in an open and transparent manner, with details documented and published.

Each NI Department is implementing these arrangements and will publish a compliance statement to this effect over the coming months.

The report below provides details of a one-year review of the operation of the Pre-release Access to Official Statistics legislation in Northern Ireland.
One-year review of the operation of the 'Pre-release Access to Official Statistics' legislation in Northern Ireland