Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the status is of the Government Social Research Publication Protocol entitled Publishing research and analysis in government; and what the consequences are in the event of a breach of that protocol.

The status of the Government Social Research Publication Protocol entitled ‘Publishing research and analysis in government’ was updated and published in December 2021. This is available on gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-social-research-publication-protocols#full-publication-update-history

The protocol applies to government departments in England and Wales that conduct or commission social research; the Scottish Government procedures for publishing social research are compliant with this protocol. Non-departmental public bodies and agencies are not obliged to follow the protocol, although as it is a statement of good practice for the publication of social research and analysis, compliance is encouraged.

This update builds on and supersedes the GSR Publication Protocol published in 2015, and is signed off by Jenny Dibden (Head of GSR), Professor Sir Ian Diamond (National Statistician & Head of the Analysis Function) and Sir Patrick Vallance (UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser & Head of the Government Science & Engineering Profession.

There is an escalation route for breaching the guidelines in the Protocol, this can be found on page 7 in Principle 2:

Where publication is not within 12 weeks, the relevant GSR Head of Profession should be notified and the reason for delay recorded. Reason for delay could be practical or legal, for example during an election period or prior to the budget announcement. The extent to which departments publish within 12 weeks will be monitored by GSR Heads of Profession and regularly reported to the GSR Board. Where systematic issues and/or delays on individual reports are identified, these will be escalated via Department Directors of Analysis and the Analysis Function Board for further scrutiny. GSR will also work with the Office for Statistics Regulation.