| Information needed | Response |
|---|---|
| Title and link to statistical output | Engagement in culture, arts and sport by adults in Northern Ireland 202021 https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/publications/engagement-culture-arts-and-sport-by-adults-northern-ireland-202021 |
| Name of producer organisation | Department for Communities
|
| Name and contact details of person dealing with report | Iain Bryson iain.bryson@communities-ni.gov.uk Phone: 028 9051 5431 |
| Name and contact details of Head of Profession for Statistics or Lead Official | Paul McKillen, Senior Principal Statistician paul.mckillen@communities-ni.gov.uk Phone: 028 9082 3558 |
| Link to published statement about the breach (if relevant) | https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/publications/engagement-culture-arts-and-sport-by-adults-northern-ireland-202021 |
| Date of breach report | 29/9/21 |
| Information needed | Response |
|---|---|
| Relevant principle(s) and practice(s) | Practice T3.3, T3.4 - content of a statistical report has been shared before publication with someone not on the relevant pre-release access list. |
| Date of occurrence of breach | 29/9/21
|
On 29/09/21 at 9.30 am a pre-release version of the ‘Engagement in culture, arts and sport by adults in Northern Ireland 202021’ report was inadvertently sent to the Department for the Economy (DfE) Permanent Secretary Support email account, which is not on the pre-release access list. The intended recipient was the Department for Communities (DfC) Permanent Secretary Support email account but Microsoft Outlook ‘auto-selected’ the wrong email address and this was not noticed prior to sending the email. The DfE Permanent Secretary Support email account was contacted at 9.47am requesting that they delete the email; confirmation of this was received from a member of staff monitoring this email account at 9.49am.
There has been no external impact of the breach. The embargoed statistics were briefly available to DfE Permanent Secretary Support without pre-release access, however the responsible statistician contacted the email account and received confirmation that the email had been deleted on request. DfE Permanent Secretary Support have confirmed that the statistics were not accessed prior to deletion.
With a view to minimising the risk of human error, the responsible statistician was reminded about the importance of the accuracy of PRA release e-mails. Named recipients on any future email lists will be double-checked prior to issue, ensuring that individual email addresses of all recipients are correct.