You asked
I would like to request business birth and deaths in Wales for the year 2016.
We said
Birth and death statistics for 2016 will be published on the ONS website on 21 November 2017 as part of the Business Demography publication. The latest data currently published is for 2015:
As the information for 2016 is intended for future publication and will be freely available to members of the public, we feel s.22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act applies whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information at a future date. This exemption is subject to a public interest test. Whilst we recognise the desirability of information being freely available, we also acknowledge that public authorities must have freedom to be able to determine their own publication timetables. This allows them to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publication.
In this situation, we consider that the public interest is best served through the public having confidence that the information published by ONS is accurate and final. Release on an ad-hoc basis would not achieve this aim and is likely to cause unnecessary confusion if they were misrepresented. Therefore, exempting the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure