Debate on the Address

My Lords, it is a particular pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Barnett, who was a model user of statistics in his ministerial days and has been ever since. I wish the same could be said of all Ministers. I am also grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, and the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, for their remarks on statistics, which is the subject that I shall talk about. This is the first time for 60 years that we are facing legislation dealing specifically with official statistics. To some people—I am sure not to your Lordships—it may seem a marginal, perhaps even unnecessary, subject. However, as well all know, that is not so. Over the years, I have learnt how enormously important and influential official statistics are, not just because they are needed by Ministers and officials as a basis for policy making and strategy, but also because of the role they play in business decisions, for the City, for the academic world, for all of us as citizens and, not least, for Parliament. I hope it will not seem rude in any sense if I say that I regard Government as not the most important client for official statistics. It is society at large that matters. Virtually every subject debated in this House or the other place is liable to depend on official statistics at some point. Almost all the legislation before us this Session will call on government statistics. I think of migration, crime, pensions, further education, social services, climate change and all the obvious economic issues. It follows that any legislation to reform our statistical system, especially if, as now, it promises to introduce degrees of independence from Ministers, will be of lasting importance to society and to all of us. The Statistics and Registration Services Bill originated in the decision the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced about a year ago and repeated in his Budget speech. He was right to be concerned about the poor state of public trust in government statistics. That led him to propose that a new level of independence from Ministers should be entrenched in legislation. Let me say straight away that I warmly welcome the Chancellor's initiative. If we get the legislation right in detail there will be every chance that his initiative will not only give our high level government statistical service the independence it deserves, but it will also improve public confidence and trust in official data. The essence of the reforms, outlined in the final document from the Treasury issued only a week or two ago, is to create in statute a new independent statistics board, which will replace Ministers as the top layer of governance for the Office for National Statistics but with a wider remit, in that the board will have responsibility for promoting and safeguarding all official statistics. The board will be independent of ministerial control and be a so-called non-ministerial department. Your Lordships will also want to note that under the new arrangements, Parliament will have a central responsibility for the first time in holding the statistical system to account. I welcome this structure developed by Treasury Ministers and officials and set out after a very helpful process of public consultation, for which we were grateful. The provisions were summarised in the Treasury's final document. So it is a great surprise to me, to put it mildly, that in one important respect the Bill, of which I have had sight, seems to take us in a different direction from that last Treasury document. By that I mean that the new statistics board, whose role we understood was to oversee, scrutinise and monitor the work of the ONS, is to become the ONS. I was most surprised to see in the Bill that the ONS is to be abolished. I think I understand the legal reasons for that, but it goes a long way in a different direction from what was originally put to us in the consultative process. The Bill proposes to abolish not only the Statistics Commission, which we knew, but the ONS is to hand over its functions to the new board. That means that the new board will not only monitor statistics but will also produce them. I see in a remote subsection that the National Statistician is to create a new executive committee or company or board, which, I take it, is to recreate the ONS. So all I can say at this point is that I am puzzled, to put it mildly again, at this evident change in direction. That is one aspect of the Bill that will need further consideration. In today's debate it would be improper to deal with details. So let me just mention three points which seem to me to be of particular importance. By far the most important relates to our decentralised statistical system. At the centre is the ONS with enormous responsibility, basically for economic data. As we know, all departments and some agencies have their own statistical offices. I have always believed in this system and I am glad that it is to remain. But it needs to be run and monitored as a single integrated system, a point which I think is recognised in the Bill. It means that the National Statistician—the role I occupied for many years—should have the authority not only to run the ONS if it is recreated in some form—as it must be—but should also have professional responsibilities throughout the whole of the government statistical service. That is why Prime Minister Wilson, the first Prime Minister I served directly, gave me the double title of director of the CSO and head of the GSS. The same must apply now. Equally—and much more important now—the new independent board must have a clear responsibility, a non-executive authority, not only for the ONS but for statistics throughout all policy ministries. I cannot stress enough that the problems of public trust relate not to the ONS statistics, but to departmental statistics in fields such as crime, migration, waiting lists and so on. That is where the trouble arises and so the system must be run as a single system. I have three more points of substance. First, where will the non-ministerial department be placed? I understand that there will be some residual—I think that is the term—role for Ministers, supported of course by civil servants and political advisers. I understand that the intention is for these residual responsibilities to remain with the Treasury. Secondly, there is the alternative—already mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin—that the statistical office should be placed in the Cabinet Office. That was my position. I was in the Cabinet Office and reported through the Cabinet Secretary directly to the Prime Minister. It makes much more sense to have the statistical office located there finally, rather than in a key policy department like the Treasury. My third point of substance concerns the trickiest issue of all; namely, the pre-release of government statistics. In this country a number of people get sight of key statistics 40 hours before they are published. Compare that with the President of the United States—not an unimportant person—who gets sight of the figures 30 minutes before they are published. This is the source of most public trust problems. Unfortunately, the legislation contains the proposal that this should be subject to secondary legislation, which is another point for discussion. I picked out these two or three points of substance. Wherever we end up, one thing seems very clear—and I concur totally with the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin—Parliament will have a new and major role in overseeing all our official statistics. That is to be strongly welcomed. But it means there must be a proper structure for this. We have two relevant committees—the very powerful Treasury sub-committee in the other place and our own Economic Affairs Committee. However splendid they are in their traditions and work, as these reforms cover much more than economic issues, whatever committee is in place should be far more wide ranging in policy terms. It seems to me obvious that this House, as well as the other place, should be involved. So if ever there was an overwhelming case for a Select Committee of both Houses, this is surely it. I end by reminding the House that this subject will come to us for proper consideration early next year. Whatever else, I hope I have said enough to remind your Lordships that official statistics are of importance across the whole range of topics we deal with, so that we should have a key role before the debate finalises.