Statement on release practices protocol

Our outputs

We publish a wide range of statistics for Wales in the following formats:

• Publications - fully bilingual documents with an ISBN number; a compendium volume of statistics for a specific subject area or from a range of subject areas. They are announced via a First Release.
• First Releases – announcing new statistics or publications, serving both as press notices and short, free, statistical publications.
• Bulletins - new, often more in-depth, analyses of data already in the public domain including methodological bulletins.
• Headline Statistics Wales – key statistical points in a concise format on the Internet. A Headline Statistics Wales accompanies every First Release, Bulletin and Publication. ‘Standalone’ Headline Statistics Wales are also produced to draw attention to figures published elsewhere or the available statistics on a topical issue.

National Statistics

Around three quarters of our Releases and Bulletins are National Statistics. The main exceptions are statistics on the NHS, and statistics on adult education and government supported training, whose collection rests with the National Council for Education and Training for Wales. National Statistics cover government data produced to the high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice, and are identified by the National Statistics logo. However the principle underlying the Protocol of open release practices applies to all official statistics produced by the Government.

Pricing and form of outputs

All our reports except Headline Statistics Wales can be produced as hard copy and are freely available on our website for download.

Pre-announcement

In general there are established timetables for the preparation of regular quarterly and monthly First Releases and exact publication dates are given six months in advance. For other First Releases, the month of publication is given six months ahead and the exact date at least four weeks ahead. For Bulletins the month of publication is given two months ahead and the exact date at least four weeks ahead.

Months and dates are pre-announced on the Due Out Soon page.

Timing of Releases

All Statistical Releases, Bulletins, Publications are announced by e-mail through the Government’s Press Office, at 9:30am on a normal working day, and placed on the website at the same time.

Format of releases

The Chief Statistician at the Welsh Government is responsible for the content, timing and format of all statistical outputs. Any statement about policy by the Minister is issued separately. Regular First Releases are prepared to a standard format. Typically, regular Bulletins and Publications will retain a core of standard tabulations, but content may vary to reflect the needs of users and to allow proper presentation and analysis of any new or particularly interesting results.

Pre-release access to statistics

The Protocol states that Ministers may have up to five working days (up to 24 hours in the case of market sensitive statistics) early access to outputs, along with their officials. The sole purpose is for Ministers to be able to respond completely when questions arise at the time of publication. We maintain a record, for public scrutiny, of Ministers and their officials who have such access to each output, available on request from the address at the end of this statement.

Early access to statistics is also given to a limited number of officials in the course of quality assurance of the data. An accurate audit trail is maintained and those officials receiving unreleased material are advised of their responsibilities in respect of confidentiality.

Security markings

Prior to release all outputs containing statistics not yet in the public domain are marked ‘RESTRICTED – STATISTICS’. The following statement accompanies all instances of pre-release access to statistics by Ministers and their officials:

‘Privileged early access to these statistics is governed by the arrangements for the release of National Statistics. Please do not forward them to anyone else or report their contents. Any Ministerial statement about them should not be made before the release of the statistics themselves.’