Statistics and Registration Service Bill

Before my noble friend withdraws the amendment I should like to say a few words about this matter. I have been holding my peace. I am sorry that we have gone past 10 o’clock but I have not tried to lengthen the debate. I reinforce what has been said about the value of the work of the Statistics Commission. I have been the beneficiary of a great deal of advice from it. Many of the amendments tabled from this side of the Committee or from the Liberal Democrat Benches were suggested, or certainly approved, by the Statistics Commission. On many occasions it declared its fears about what the noble Lord, Lord Moser, referred to earlier as the muddle between the role of the board and that of the National Statistician. The Statistics Commission put its finger on that again and again. It is deeply disquieted by the structure that the Government have set up under this Bill. I hope that I shall not embarrass the commission by saying this but it has been very generous with its time and advice. We should not allow this clause to pass without not only praising the commission for what it has done but acknowledging that it shares, and in many cases has been the origin of, the opposition to many of the Bill’s clauses. I am enormously grateful to it. I hope that even now Ministers, either here or in another place, will pay greater attention to the criticisms that the commission has advanced in its experience and wisdom. I do not think that we should let the Bill pass without expressing that forcefully. There are many stages still to come. We shall have Report and amendments will go back to another place. I suspect that some of them may well come back here later. In all that, we will be reflecting in many cases the views of the Statistics Commission, and it knows what it is talking about.