Statistics and Registration Service Bill

I am grateful for my right hon. Friend’s contribution, because he is able to give the House that sort of insight and assurance with a particular authority that is not open to many of the rest of us. Let me turn to the particular concern of the hon. Member for Dundee, East, which is addressed by amendments Nos. 51, 52 and 59. I am not sure that it is fully appreciated that the powers in clause 27 are designed to protect the public interest so that if, and only if, the board fundamentally fails to deliver for any reason, the Government can intervene—always publicly, in writing and as a last resort—to ensure that the board’s obligations are met. The hon. Gentleman cited some circumstances in which there might somehow be a reluctance to intervene because a set of statistics were market-sensitive, but such circumstances would not be those with which the clause was designed to deal.