You asked:
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from the Office for National Statistics.
I would like to request details on a number of issues relating to the potential internal investigation of ONS employees with regards to the publication time of economic data.
1a. Have any employees of the ONS been investigated internally under suspicion of releasing any variety of economic data before their scheduled release time?
1b. How many such investigations, of whatever outcome, have been conducted since the beginning of 2010?
1c. What were the results, if any, of those investigations?
Secondly, I would like to request the detail of any information passed to the Financial Services Authority or Financial Conduct Authority or vice versa relating to suspected leaks of economic data prior to their publication.
2a. Has the Office for National Statistics reported suspected leaks of economic data to the FSA/FCA since 2010? If so, on what occasions?
2b. Has the FCA/FSA requested assistance from the ONS in their own investigations of suspected leaks of economic data?
2c. If so, what form did the ONS assistance take?
We said:
Under Section 30(3) [investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities] and Section 31(3) [law enforcement] of the Freedom of Information Act we can neither confirm nor deny whether the information you have requested is held.
Section 31(3) is engaged because the release of information relating to any potential investigations, or existence of such information, would be likely to prejudice any possible current or future investigations.
Additionally Section 30(3) applies because we have a statutory duty to investigate the use of economic data for personal gain.
These are qualified exemptions so a public interest test is required to ascertain the public interest in the application of the exemptions or disclosure.
In favour of disclosure we acknowledge the importance of transparency and public assurance that crime is investigated appropriately.
In favour of withholding or confirming the existence of the information, we consider that disclosure would prejudice the potential outcome of possible leak investigations. Revealing details of potential historic investigations would expose details about how these investigations were triggered and managed. Disclosing information would jeopardise future investigations as it would reveal possible investigative techniques. It would highlight how potential investigations are undertaken and how to circumvent exposure. There would be clear prejudice to ongoing investigations. There is strong public interest in withholding this information as it is important for the public to have trust in the statistics that we produce and our statistical publication policies and procedures.