Limiting pre-release access to statistics: a consultation document / HM Treasury, 10 December 2007
PDF - http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/4/A/consult_preaccess101207.pdf
"The Statistics and Registration Act 2007 is the most substantial piece of statistics legislation for 60 years and establishes an independent Statistics Board to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics. In order that Ministers can account immediately for the implications of statistics about policy areas for which they are democratically responsible, they are in certain circumstances given access to those statistics ahead of publication. As a part of the Governance of Britain programme of constitutional renewal, the Government is proposing to tighten the principles and rules under which pre-release access can be granted."