Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Statistics

(asked on 30th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Defra group breaches of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics between January 2009 and February 2018, what steps he is taking to avoid future breaches of that code.


Answered by
Victoria Prentis Portrait
Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
This question was answered on 20th April 2022

There have been 35 breaches of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics by Defra (24) and associated bodies (11) since January 2009. The most common reasons for breaches of the Code have been timing (i.e. publications not released at 9.30am) and pre-release access (i.e. publication shared with ineligible individuals before publication).

The Head of Profession for Statistics is responsible for the release and content of statistics in the Department. All breaches are individually reviewed and reported to the UK Statistics Authority, including the impact of the breach and corrective actions to prevent re-occurrence. Details of Defra group breaches can be found at:

Defra group breaches of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Number of breaches

2009

1

2010

1

2011

1

2012

1

2013

5

2014

4

2015

3

2016

4

2017

3

2018

4

2019

3

2020

2

2021

3

Reticulating Splines