You asked
Please provide the ONS behavioural compliance data held for dates 19 March 2020 to 26 March 2020, as can be legally disclosed in the public domain, in relation to the information which was requested by SAGE.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
To support the government during the coronavirus pandemic, we have worked with technology companies to provide senior government officials with crucial information on mobility and travel, in relation to the social distancing measures implemented to reduce the spread of the virus. We have also conducted new surveys, including a weekly pandemic-focused version of the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey.
Information that we provided to SAGE has already been redacted and published here. The slides contain the following information:
Indicators of busyness at types of location from Google places data, relative to usual, for transport and leisure locations
Results of the first wave of our fortnight Business Impacts of Coronavirus Survey (BICS), subsequently published (based on a larger sample size) here and with data available here
Results from the weekly pandemic-focused version of the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, subsequently published (based on a larger sample) here and with data available here
We hold the unredacted slides regarding behavioural compliance data. However, we would be unable to disclose this in response to your Freedom of Information request. We believe that the disclosure of this information would prejudice the commercial interests of a third party, as the publication of the information may influence the decisions of customers and subsequently could impact the third party's ability to produce income. Therefore, this information is exempt according to Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby a Public Authority may not disclose information which would, or be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. While we recognise the desirability of information being freely available, we also acknowledge the importance of maintaining the trust of our sources of data. The release of this data may compromise our relationship with companies and stakeholders, which would impact on our ability to have effective discussions with regards to the provision of data. In turn, this would impact our ability to produce statistics, which are in the public good and are essential in the formulation of government policy. As a result, the protection of the company's commercial interests outweighs the public interest in this case.
You may also be interested in data published as part of the Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports, and the Apple Mobility Trends Reports, both of which provide high-frequency data on mobility in the UK.