Dear Deborah,

Thank you for contacting my team about an exemption from the Code of Practice for Statistics to permit a later release time for NISRA’s weekly deaths statistics for the week ending 17 December 2021. You propose to publish on 23 December to avoid publication of the statistics on Christmas Eve.

Given the circumstances for publishing this release earlier than usual, I am happy to confirm exemption from the standard publication time of 9.30am to permit a later release time of 2pm for these statistics.

Yours sincerely

Ed Humpherson

Director General for Regulation