Statistics and Registration Service Bill

moved Amendment No. 30: 30: Clause 5, page 3, line 14, leave out paragraph (b) and insert— ““(b) employed to operate independently of the Board with scrutiny and oversight of the role provided by the Board”” The noble Lord said: This group of amendments is our second bite of the cherry in looking at the role of the National Statistician as opposed to the board. Earlier in the debate the Minister implied that we did not accept the Government’s model for the new Statistics Board. The key element of that model is that it must be a unitary board. We accept that it should be a unitary board; the question that we are grappling with now, having accepted the principle that the National Statistician is a member of that board, is exactly how the relationship between the National Statistician and the board works and his formal roles and responsibilities. One reason why we are dealing with a situation here that is sui generis—which I think that everyone has accepted—is that, unlike in virtually every other situation that we have discussed, whether it is a corporate board or the BBC, the National Statistician is a technician and has deep expertise on matters on which the non-executive members of the board have virtually no expertise. In most cases those are probably very detailed issues. That is why it is so important that, when the National Statistician is exercising his professional judgment on these technical issues, he can do it independently, and that the board realises that its role is to ensure that the process is followed properly rather than trying to do the job of the National Statistician when he exercises those technical powers. We have tabled a raft of amendments. The noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, has joined in on some of them, and she and her colleagues have tabled others. We are trying in all these amendments to introduce clarity to achieve that purpose, to give the National Statistician clear independence to do a technical job properly and to ensure that he plays a full part on the board. I shall briefly describe our principal amendments. Amendment No. 30 makes explicit the point that everybody made when we discussed this matter earlier; namely, that the National Statistician is employed to operate independently of the board, with scrutiny and oversight of that role provided by the board. Noble Lords used that phraseology earlier. Amendment No. 34 is one of a raft of amendments which deal with slightly poor drafting. It is not a hugely substantive point but at present the Bill says that the board produces statistics. The one thing on which everybody is agreed is that the board does not produce statistics; the National Statistician does. Given that this and a number of similar amendments make this point, I hope very much that the Government will agree that is the case and will accept them. It is not a matter of principle but of having drafting which achieves the purpose that all noble Lords wish to achieve. Amendment No. 30 describes the role of the National Statistician and Amendment No. 40 describes the role of the board as we see it. Amendment No. 47 explains how the board and the National Statistician should relate to each other as the board will be responsible for monitoring and assessing the performance of the National Statistician against her assigned responsibilities. Amendment No. 95 attempts to rectify sloppy drafting. Clause 18(1) states: "““The Board may itself produce and publish statistics””." As I said, the one thing the board does not do is produce statistics. The amendment seeks to delete ““itself””. Amendment No. 101 relates to who should consult the Bank of England in respect of changes to the RPI. This is not a matter for the board; the National Statistician is responsible for recalibrating the RPI. She should perform that function rather than the board. Amendment No. 102 is consequential on that amendment. Amendment No. 154 is substantive. It would prevent the board instructing the National Statistician on how to do her technical job. This is not purely a theoretical or drafting matter. A high profile example arose in recent years where the National Statistician had to exercise judgment in dealing with Railtrack. It seems to us and our advisers that if the board intervened in circumstances where the National Statistician was exercising her technical responsibility, it would potentially be subject to judicial review because it does not have the technical expertise to exercise the judgment that is required in such a case. Therefore, it is important that Amendments Nos. 154 and 156 are passed to recognise that. Amendment No. 168 is consequential. Amendments Nos. 170, 173 and 175 relate to personal information. It seems to us that the National Statistician rather than the board should hold that information as part of her production function. Amendments Nos. 184, 185, 186 and 188 relate to access to information and who grants access to approved researchers. It seems to us that that is logically a matter for the National Statistician, not the board. This is rather a rag-bag set of amendments. However, the amendments seek to clarify the role of the National Statistician, tidy up what seems to usto be infelicitous drafting, and achieve technical improvements through this series of minor changes, as I think noble Lords on all sides of the Committee wish. I beg to move.