The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been reprimanded by the statistics watchdog after the thrust of employment figures was shared on social media ahead of their scheduled release.
The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) has written to Robert Devereux, the DWP permanent secretary, calling on him to review the department’s practices in the wake of the breach.
“I note that an indication of the substance of Wednesday's Labour Market Statistics release was shared by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with up to 300 people, through a social media network ahead of the publication of the report by someone who is not approved to have pre-release access to the statistics,” wrote Ed Humpherson, the director general for regulation at the UKSA.
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“The Authority is deeply concerned about the impact that breaches (and apparent breaches) relating to the unauthorised, widespread sharing of statistics before their publication may have on the trustworthiness of the UK’s official statistics system.
“I would welcome your assurance that you will review – and improve where necessary – the processes relating to the handling of pre-release access within your department to ensure that such an occurrence cannot and will not happen again.”
The DWP says no specific figures were published and that the breach occurred just a few minutes before the 9.30am official publication time.*
The DWP says no specific figures were published and that the breach occurred just a few minutes before the 9.30am official publication time.* - See more at: https://www.politicshome.com/economy-and-work/articles/story/dwp-criticised-employment-stats-leak#sthash.dV1U6cuX.dpuf
Pre-access to the statistics is tightly controlled because it is considered market sensitive.
A spokesperson for the DWP said: “We’re committed to complying in every way with the rules set out by the UK Stats Authority. We have put additional measures in place and will respond formally to the UKSA shortly.”
A spokesperson for the DWP said: “We’re committed to complying in every way with the rules set out by the UK Stats Authority. We have put additional measures in place and will respond formally to the UKSA shortly.” - See more at: https://www.politicshome.com/economy-and-work/articles/story/dwp-criticised-employment-stats-leak#sthash.dV1U6cuX.dpuf
A spokesperson for the DWP said: “We’re committed to complying in every way with the rules set out by the UK Stats Authority. We have put additional measures in place and will respond formally to the UKSA shortly.” - See more at: https://www.politicshome.com/economy-and-work/articles/story/dwp-criticised-employment-stats-leak#sthash.dV1U6cuX.dpuf
It is not the first time the DWP has been criticised by the UKSA.
In 2013, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith was accused by the watchdog of quoting figures that were “unsupported” by official statistics.
* The first sentence of this article originally read "before the release date". That has been changed to "ahead of their scheduled release" to reflect comments from the DWP.