I am grateful to the Minister for that explanation, which technically I understand. However, because he has not given us any examples of either of these powers being used in the past—although I accept that that might be difficult to do because of national security—it is very difficult to have a discussion about whether they have been used reasonably. It is highly likely that such orders of the court are rarely used. I could not think of a case in which a court would be ordering the ONS to disclose personal information. However, if there is a strand here, it would be useful to have some evidence of what it is and why the provision is so valuable. The Minister may be able to give me some satisfaction on that.
Statistics and Registration Service Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Newby
(Liberal Democrat)
in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 23 May 2007.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Statistics and Registration Service Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
692 c730 
Session
2006-07
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2023-12-15 11:19:05 +0000
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