Journalists
14.—(1) If the person responsible is satisfied that a person is a bona fide representative of a news gathering or news reporting organisation, the person responsible may grant pre-release access to that person for up to a maximum period of 24 hours prior to publication of an official statistic.
(2) The person responsible may grant such pre-release access if, in the opinion of the person responsible, such access—
(a)is necessary for bona fide representatives of news gathering or news reporting organisations to understand the statistic and, where relevant, a statistical publication which includes that statistic, and
(b)is likely to facilitate well-informed debate.
(3) The person responsible may only grant pre-release access if in the opinion of the person responsible the public benefit likely to result from such access outweighs the detriment to public trust in official statistics likely to result from such access.
(4) Such access must be kept to the minimum time prior to publication necessary to achieve the purposes of sub-paragraph (2).
(5) The person responsible may, when deciding whether to grant pre-release access to a person under this paragraph, take into account any failure by that person, in relation to a previous grant of pre-release access, to comply with paragraph 6, paragraph 7 or any conditions imposed by the person responsible.
(6) The person responsible may impose such conditions on the granting of pre-release access as the person responsible considers appropriate including—
(a)that pre-release access must take place in such secure location as may be specified by the person responsible and that no communication equipment may be used at that location except as may be permitted by the person responsible; or
(b)without prejudice to paragraph 8, that a person to whom pre-release access under this paragraph is intended to be granted and before such access is granted must agree to comply with any conditions imposed by the person responsible.
(7) Part 1, except for paragraphs 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9, does not apply to the granting of pre-release access under this paragraph.
(8) For the purposes of this paragraph, paragraphs 6, 7 and 8 apply to a person to whom pre-release access is granted under this paragraph as they apply to an eligible person.