The ONS have announced that the publication of the second estimate of Q4 2016 GDP and associated data will brought forward one day, to 22 February 2017, in response to a request from the OBR. The ONS are also planning to extend pre-release access to these datasets to a limited number of OBR staff. This earlier publication date and early access will ensure that the latest economic data can be taken on fully for the final pre-measures forecast in the March 2017 Economic and fiscal outlook, which will be published alongside the Budget on 8 March. The Chancellor requested that the final pre-measures forecast included the Q4 GDP data when commissioning the March 2017 forecast.
Both the OBR and ONS have published the letters between the Chairman of the OBR and Deputy National Statistician.