Statistics and Registration Service Bill

I am grateful to noble Lords who have spoken to their amendments. I shall discuss the amendments separately because the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, raises some fundamental points that I need to address separately, although I recognise that they are contiguous with the arguments of the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. As she said, we discussed at length in our first Committee sitting the question of the governance model set out in the Bill. The Government are committed to that model. We believe that we have adopted the right approach for the National Statistician’s relationship with the board and to the role of the executive office that the National Statistician is to establish. As I said in my response to the previous amendment, our approach recognises the professional pre-eminence of the National Statistician. I listened to the arguments of the Opposition, but I shall not yield to them on their argument that we have any objective other than recognising the professional pre-eminence of the National Statistician. We establish that in Clause 29(2), where the National Statistician is assumed to be able to exercise the functions of the board directly, without the intervening express authority of the board, except in respect of specific functions. One is assessment, which we all recognise to be a separate concept; another is the final sign-off of the code of practice. The National Statistician will not exercise all those functions herself or himself, so the Bill enables the National Statistician to delegate functions to the staff of the executive office for which he or she is responsible. The necessary quid pro quo of allowing the National Statistician directly to exercise those functions is that, to maintain accountability, the board must be able, as necessary, to condition how the executive staff are to function and reserve the right to exercise certain functions itself—the two functions that I identified earlier. We see no case for changing that approach. I hear what the noble Baroness says, but I hope that she will recognise that there is coherence to the Government’s position, which is based on a model that certainly preserves the role of the National Statistician but also guarantees that the board can meet its obligations in being accountable to Parliament. The noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, is defining a different kind of board, one in which there is an executive chairman. That is why he raises the issue of the salary. Why should the salary issue affect the relationship between the chair and the National Statistician if not the chair but the National Statistician is exercising executive authority? Although the National Statistician can exercise any of the board's functions, except for the final code sign-off and assessment decisions, which we recognise to be separate, the reason why those functions need to be reserved is that the board will be charged under the Bill as ultimately accountable for those functions. It is therefore bound to have some power to direct the National Statistician on the discharge of those functions. The board could not be accountable if it had no control at all over the manner in which the functions are exercised. I shall consider the question asked by the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, about the search consultants’ reference pack. I cannot give a categorical answer at this stage. I will do my best to provide that information, but I am slightly hesitant about doing so. It will be recognised that this relates to a public appointment, and I am not quite sure just how much we are free to disclose. I will certainly write to him with as much information as I can. The noble Viscount’s amendment relates to a different kind of board from the one in the Bill—which we hope to convince the Chamber has merits. The board is accountable to Parliament and has the National Statistician as its chief executive. It has two functions in particular. We all recognise the one that relates to assessment and that is separate from the National Statistician, which is why it has its powers. It is also accountable to Parliament for the overall position, but the National Statistician is the executive officer. He will set up the executive operation of statistics from the board, and will set the standards for all statisticians who produce government statistics. There has been a considerable overlap of issues in both the debates that we have had so far. I hope that I have established for the Committee the fact that the Government are clear in the Bill about the nature of the board, and that the noble Baroness will feel able to withdraw her amendment. She said that it was probing. I hope that I have at least given her food for thought.