FOI reference: FOI-2025-2988
You asked
I'm writing regarding work we're doing as part of our Government Tracker, specifically on Labour's pledge to "deliver productivity growth in every part of the country".
I'm writing to you to request some information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, specifically what communications the ONS has had with the Treasury or other government departments (if any) about how Labour's manifesto pledge to deliver "productivity growth in every part of the country" should be measured.
Please provide me with a copy of any minutes, documentation or internal communications (including emails) which discuss the metrics for this manifesto pledge.
We said
Thank you for your request.
Regarding the manifesto pledge to "deliver productivity growth in every part of the country" specifically, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are unlikely to have had discussions with HM Treasury (HMT) and other government departments about how to measure this. This is because HMT already have an established understanding of the regional indicators that would be used, which they derive from our published information.
However, for us to conduct a comprehensive search to see if we do hold any communications or other documents that discuss the metrics for the specific manifesto pledge, we would need to search the mailboxes and workspaces of every member of staff in our Economic, Social, and Environmental Group (ESEG). This spans 23 divisions in the ONS, comprising of around a quarter of ONS staff. The resource involved in conducting this search would exceed the cost limit, which is 24 working hours for 1 person (regardless of grade). We also anticipate that, even if we were to conduct this extensive search, we would find very little-to-no information because of the aforementioned cross-government understanding. Therefore, Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies.
We would advise that HM Treasury (HMT) themselves, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), or Number 10 would be better placed to assist with exactly how the pledge should be measured. They may be better placed to assist with queries surrounding this.