Statement of Compliance with the National Statistics Code of Practice and Protocols

Statement of Compliance with the National Statistics Code of Practice and Protocols

The Department for International Development (DFID) is responsible for collecting, compiling, reporting and disseminating statistics on the deployment of official and private UK financial resources to support developing countries.

The following annual DFID releases are designated as a “National Statistic” and are produced in accordance with the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority:

• Statistics on International Development (SID)
• Provisional Official Development Assistance as a proportion of Gross National Income (ODA:GNI)

The Department is committed to following the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and its associated protocols for the National Statistics it produces and will make its best efforts to comply with them. We will also make every effort to produce and publish our National Statistic in accordance with the following statements and policies: 

• Release Practices; 
• Revisions and Errors; 
• Publication Strategy; 
• Confidentiality and Security; 
• Data Management;
• Customer Service and User Consultation.
  

Release Practices

The National Statistics Release Practice Protocol will apply in full to SID and the provisional ODA:GNI ratio.

Accessibility: Number and types of releases

• The SID publication is accompanied by a Statistical Release, which is not regarded as market sensitive. Both will be available on the Internet with excel tables available for download.
• One statistical release is published each year for the provisional ODA:GNI ratio and will also be available from the internet.

Pre-announcement

• The release dates for SID and the provisional ODA/GNI ratio are pre-announced on the ONS Hub.
• The month of publication is given twelve months ahead with the exact date at least two weeks ahead.

Timing of Releases

• Publications of DFID National Statistics are announced by means of a Statistical Release from DFID which is issued at 0930 hrs on the day of release.

Format of releases

• The Head of Profession maintains responsibility for the content and format of statistical releases.
• The SID publication is accompanied by a Statistical Release which contains a short summary of key figures intended primarily to assist the media in reporting on the results.
• The provisional ODA:GNI ratio is published through a Statistical Release.
• Any statement about policy by the Secretary of State is issued separately from the statistical releases.
• SID retains a core of standard tabulations, but content may vary to reflect needs of users and the changing nature of the aid programme. It may also include academic articles and comments on research findings.

Pre-release access to statistics

• DFID maintains a record of all those who have pre-release access to statistical outputs published as National Statistics and of the purpose for which they have access. All such access is for quality assurance purposes and is in line with the protocol. Those involved will be advised of their responsibility in respect of confidentiality.
• Lists of individuals with privileged early access for briefing purposes, rather than as management information or for quality assurance, are provided below:

• Pre-release access list

Availability of detailed results

• SID covers a wide range of information and more detailed data are available on request.  More information on DFID projects is available from the Project Information Database, where users can find details of project descriptions, sectors and budgets.

Revisions and Errors

This statement is issued in accordance with the requirements set out in the National Statistics Protocol on Revisions and sets out our intention to tbe open and transparent about any revisions made to SID or the ODA/GNI ratio.

Scheduled Revisions

We compile SID and the provisional ODA:GNI ratio in accordance with the reporting guidelines internationally agreed by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD. These guidelines are revised periodically and where this affects our statistics, notification of any changes and their effects will be given in SID or within the provisional ODA:GNI Statistical Release.  Any changes to methods or classifications will also be announced in advance on the ONS publications Hub.

Errors

The bulk of our information is drawn from administrative data and occasionally errors occur in the statistical coding. Where these are minor, the database will be amended and the next edition of SID or the provisional ODA:GNI ratio will automatically use the revised figures.

Substantial Revisions

Should a more systematic error occur which has a major effect on the published figures, then revised figures, together with an explanatory note, will be published on our website. This will be done as soon as possible after the error has been identified and corrective action taken. Existing hard copies will not be recalled. The amendments will be reflected in the next edition and we will notify users of the revised figures available on the website.