FOI reference: FOI-2026-3723
You asked
We learnt from the Lievesley Review of statistics (para 126) that "Reporting to the UKSA Board within the ONS is the ONS executive team led by the National Statistician. The executive meets regularly through two core executive committees, the National Statistics Executive Group (NSEG) which includes cross-GSS representation and the Executive Committee."
Can you please send me the minutes from the meetings of these two groups for the last five years? Should the name of the groups have changed over time, please send the minutes of the predecessor bodies.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We do not proactively publish or internally distribute the minutes of the meetings you have referenced. This is because, by nature, these meetings are safe spaces where a range of topics are discussed openly with an impact on the wider office, including matters of great sensitivity.
Because of this, any consideration of disclosure of minutes of these meetings would require significant scrutiny from a wide range of staff to consider whether any FOI exemptions are engaged. NSEG met quarterly, but EXCO meet weekly; the five year period of your request therefore includes a vast quantity of material for review.
The resource required to do this is excessive and exceeds the reasonable limit for FOI requests. We therefore believe the purpose and value of this request is outweighed by the burden of responding and, as such, s.14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies.
We would recommend narrowing the scope of your request. You can do this by focusing on a specific topic or decision made and reducing the timeframe to one year for this request.