First quarter of t-2 if Budget requires (e.g. in March 2004 revisions taken back to
2002q1). June (If Blue Book). Depends on separate Blue Book revisions policy.
Public Sector Statistics – Revisions’ policy Introduction This note describes the Revisions’ Policy for the public sector data releases. These are the monthly Public sector finances First Release and the biannual Government deficit and debt under the Maastricht Treaty First Release. This note is a requirement of the National Statistics Code of Practice Protocol on Revisions. Announcement of new policy The National Statistics Quality Review of Government Accounts and Indicators, published in October 2002 included the recommendation that the public sector statistics policy should use more timely data than is used in the National Accounts. This policy was introduced from July 2004. From this time the Public sector finances First Release will show the latest, most up to date estimates for all periods. The National Accounts will come into line at the earliest opportunity that the National Accounts revisions policy allows. Public sector finances First Release This is a joint ONS/HM Treasury First Release that monitors progress, throughout the financial year, of the Government’s main fiscal rules. The key statistics published are: • • •
Public sector net borrowing; Public sector surplus on current budget; Public sector net debt as a percentage of GDP
Also published are: • Public sector net investment; • Public sector net cash requirement; and • Public sector net debt The data published in this release are open for comprehensive revision every month for all time periods. This ensures that the latest and best data are used for fiscal policy at all times. Until July 2004, the Public sector finances First Release had a policy that constrained the data in it to that published in the National Accounts. Under this policy, a separate Public sector accounts First Release was published every quarter, which update the Public sector finances with the latest National Accounts consistent data. Under the new policy, this quarterly release is no longer necessary and has been discontinued. The last version was produced in June 2004. Some of the tables shown in Public sector accounts will be incorporated into the Public sector finances.
Government deficit and debt under the Maastricht Treaty First Release The European Commission requires member states to supply Government deficit and debt data to them on 1 March and 1 September each year. The ONS compiles this information and supplies it to the European Commission. In accordance with the National Statistics Code of Practice, it is published when supplied. This is done via the Government deficit and debt under the Maastricht Treaty First Release, which is published on the last working day in February and August each year. The data in this release are consistent with the most recently published Public Sector Finances. National Accounts Policy The policy for the quarterly Quarterly National Accounts First Release may vary voer time, but generally follows the following pattern, where t represents the year of the publication. March
First quarter of t-2 if Budget requires (e.g. in March 2004 revisions taken back to 2002q1) June (If Blue Book) Depends on separate Blue Book revisions policy June (If not Blue Book) First quarter of t-1 September (If Blue Book) Depends on Blue Book revisions policy September (If not Blue Book) First quarter of t-1 (to reconcile expenditure with HMT in advance of Pre-Budget Report) December First quarter of t-1
The June release usually features the publication of the ONS’s annual data update (the Blue Book) and there is a separate Blue Book revisions’ policy for this. This varies from year to year, but generally it is the opportunity for longer-run revisions to be published. The extent of the revisions is set each year. In special circumstance, such as 2003, the annual data is published in September.
