Pre-Release Access To Official Statictics

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.  Pre-release 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 pre-release access to Northern Ireland devolved statistics in their final form.  The Pre-Release Access To Official Statistics Order (Northern Ireland) 2009 came into operation on 1st April 2009 and includes details of when pre-release can occur, who is entitled to access, for how long and under what conditions. 

The key elements of the legislation are:

• Limiting pre-release access to a strict maximum of 24 hours;

• requiring that pre-release access be limited to the minimum necessary number of people and the minimum number of statistics; and

• requiring that, where pre-release 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.