§ Mrs. PeacockTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys' policy on the release of statistics.
§ Mr. SackvilleSubject to the overriding requirement of confidentiality, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys' (OPCS) policy on the release of statistics is based on the principles of availability, openness, quality, timeliness, pre-announced timetable, simultaneity, and independence. A full statement of its policy is available from OPCS, and I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library. The key points are as follows
OPCS is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of the data which it collects about individual people and groups of people such as families, households, and organisations.OPCS makes information available from all the statistical data which it collects on its own behalf, in as convenient a form as possible.OPCS is open about its sources and methods.OPCS is committed to the provision of good quality statistics.Statistics are made available as early as practicable.Statistics are released to a pre-announced timetable.OPCS's statistics are made available to all users from the same time, with limited specified exceptions on a strict need-to-know basis.The Registrar General for England and Wales is solely responsible for the content and timing of OPCS's statistical publications and press releases.