You asked

​I am seeking to understand ONS’s relationships with local government and the various data sharing agreements in place.

I understand that local government organisations, councils in particular, are required to submit certain data sets to ONS on a regular basis. I would like to have a better idea of the mechanisms and legislation used in these relationships, please.

Are these requests for data sets made by ONS using the FOIA? Is there other legislation that legally requires LGOs to provide this information and if so could you please direct me to this?

Is an organisation able to object to sharing this information and if so what would the grounds or exemptions be, please?

Finally, are there standard data sharing agreements in place for these types of disclosure between LGO’s and ONS or does each Council or local government body create their own agreement?

We said

Thank you for your request. Please find our response to your questions below.

Are these requests for data sets made by ONS using the FOIA?

No, the Freedom of Information Act was created to provide the general public with a means of accessing information held by public authorities and it would not be appropriate for a government department to use this to obtain the information they require to undertake their statutory functions.

Is there other legislation that legally requires LGOs to provide this information?

The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) established the UK Statistics Authority. This is the umbrella statistical organisation that encompasses the Office for National Statistics. Section 79 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 amended the SRSA to include Section 45A.

Section 45A (1) of the SRSA provides a general power for all public authorities, including local government, to disclose to the Statistics Board (The Office for National Statistics) any information held by the authority in connection with its functions.

Is an organisation able to object to sharing this information and, if so, what would the grounds or exemptions be, please?

If a request is made to a public authority under the provisions of Section 45A SRSA, yes, they are able to object.

There is a list of conditions that the Statistics Board must comply with in order to acquire this information from other public authorities. For example, subsection 45A (3) states that a public authority may disclose information under subsection (1) only if it is satisfied that the Board requires the information to enable it to exercise one or more of its functions and subsection (12) states that the disclosure must not contravene relevant data protection legislation. See subsections 3-14 of Section 45A for a full list of conditions the Board must meet in order to have the legal right to requested information.

We can use this part of the legislation to ask for the information, but a local authority can decline. If they do so, we would normally enter a negotiation process with them to assure them that we will fulfil all the requirements outlined in Section 45A.

If any public authority continues to refuse to provide the information they hold after this negotiation process and we have provided sufficient evidence that we have adhered to the conditions in Section 45A, we can issue a mandatory notice to require the disclosure of the information. Details of this can be found in Section 45C of the SRSA.

All acquisitions of data, whether through the permissive or mandatory route, must follow a statutory code of practice.

Are there standard data sharing agreements in place for these types of disclosure between LGO's and ONS or does each Council or local government body create their own agreement?

ONS has standard data sharing agreements which are usually used, amended as required to fit the circumstances of any given data sharing exercise.

You may also be interested in the Single Data List. This has a list of Local Government data that must be submitted to central government. You will find ONS specifically requests electoral statistics, Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey data, and Council Tax data from local authorities.

Please get in touch if you have any further questions via email at FOI.Team@ons.gov.uk.