Written question asked by David Davis (Conservative) on Wednesday, 17 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 March 2010. It was answered by Jack Straw (Labour) on Monday, 29 March 2010 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Departmental Publications

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the dates of publication of any regular statistics or reports by his Department have been affected by planning for the forthcoming general election.

Answer: On the announcement of a general election, the Cabinet Secretary issues guidance to Departments on their activities during the pre-election period. This will be published on the Cabinet Office website.Regular statistical releases and reports will continue to be issued and published during the election period on dates which have been pre-announced.Once the general election is announced, the expectation is that reports which have not been pre-announced and are not yet ready for publication will be delayed until after the purdah period. This includes Ministry of Justice social research reports which are not routinely pre-announced.I also refer the right hon. Member to the statement released by the Ministry of Justice's chief statistician on 19 March 2010 regarding the release of youth justice statistics. A copy of the statement is available at:"www.justice.gov.uk/publications/youth-justice-statistics.htm"

Secondary information