You asked
Before July 2017, the ONS provided selected government officials with early access to several macroeconomic statistics. I would like to obtain the list (or the number) of people who had pre-release access to the following official statistics prepared by the ONS:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Consumer price index (CPI)
Industrial production
Producer Price Index (PPI) output
Retail sales
It is important to for me know how the number of people with pre-release access to these statistics changed over time during the period from 2006 to 2017.
We said
Thank you for your request.
In order to ensure that we have fully answered your request, we would need to locate the pre-release lists for nearly 700 statistical bulletins. The cost limit for replying to a Freedom of Information request is £600 or 24 hours work, and in our view we would need to exceed this with your request.
We would therefore request that you consider limiting the scope of your request to allow us to respond within the cost limit.
It would be helpful to reduce the time-frame of your request to the most recent 4 years, which will enable us to answer your request within the cost limit.