Protocol 2 Practice 4 of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics provides for statistical reports to be published at 9.30am on a weekday.

The Home Office has told us that it is not always possible to publish its statistical reports on Scientific Procedures on Living Animals at 9.30am because the laying of this document before Parliament is a statutory obligation laid down in section 21(7) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, and it is not always possible to arrange a publication date that coincides with dates when the report can be laid before Parliament at 9.30am.

The Authority has confirmed that in these specific circumstances it is acceptable, instead, for the Home Office to publish these statistics at 10am.