Reference: FOI-2023-1682
You asked
I was wondering if I am able to access a list of postcodes with a single household in them via the census data, or whether this in itself constitutes a data breach. I am looking to open source some postcode data that has been divorced from other data points.
It is my understanding that there are approximately 55,540 of these postcodes and the data is in existence.
We said
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request about households in postcodes.
Unfortunately, we are not able to disclose the requested information, as this is personal information. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) renders it a criminal offence to disclose information held by our organisation for statistical purposes that would identify an individual. As we are prohibited by law from publishing statistics in which individuals can be identified, Section 44(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies.
It is worth noting that in our census data for postcodes in England and Wales, available via Nomis: Census 2021, due to our measures in place to protect personal data, a count of 1 cannot be considered a certainty. All outputs are affected by the Statistical Disclosure Control (SDC) methods of swapping and perturbation, so counts of 1 may have been affected by SDC. Statistical disclosure control methods ensure that statistical outputs provide as much value and utility as possible to users while protecting the confidentiality of information about individuals, households and organisations.
More information on SDC for Census is available via the following link: Protecting personal data in Census results.