Today we are making our first change to our Code of Practice for Statistics since its major overhaul in 2018. We are changing two practices which relate to the release times of official statistics, giving producers the opportunity to release statistics at times other 9.30am, where they and we judge that this clearly serves the public good. We expect most statistics to continue to be released at 9.30am.
These changes are not being undertaken lightly: we undertook a 12 week consultation at the end of 2021 asking users for feedback on a number of proposals. On announcing our decision in March this year, we published a blog explaining how we reached our decision and what this change will mean for producers and statistics in the future.
The Code of Practice for Statistics sets the standards that producers of official statistics should commit to. The Code outlines three pillars – trustworthiness, quality and value – that producers should commit to when producing and releasing official statistics. In our latest blog, Penny Babb – our Head of Policy and Standards – looks back over the first four years of the Code of Practice and considers its impact.
For further information about alternative release times, and how this process will work in practice, please see the alternative release times for official statistics policy.
View the new alternative release times