‘Don’t give them statistics in advance...’

OFFICIAL statistics should not be given to ministers ahead of publication to stop them being ‘spun’ or ‘buried’, MSPs have been told.

The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) has called for the rules in Scotland, which allow ministers and officials access to figures up to five days before publication, to be revised.

RSS said the system ‘undermines public trust’ in official statistics. Earlier this year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) scrapped its pre-release access for ministers.

Holyrood’s economy committee will hear from the RSS’s Martin Weale today as part of its inquiry into economic data in Scotland. In a written submission to the committee, RSS said: ‘The RSS strongly urges the committee to call for Scotland’s current rules on prerelease access to be revised.

‘We believe that such privileged access undermines public trust in official statistics as, for example, it creates opportunities for figures to be “spun” to the media or “buried” beneath other announcements. The rules in Scotland have long been a cause of particular concern [and] these arrangements now look in urgent need of reform.’