Statistics and Registration Service Bill

My Lords, we have had many months of discussion on the Bill—public discussion and consultation and discussion in the other place and here—and much of it has obviously centred on the organisational structure envisaged under the new reforms. I have looked at the present version of the Bill and today’s amendments and have thought back a little to the concerns that I and others have expressed at various stages. I start with the top layer of the new governance structure, which is Parliament. Of course, I understand that that we could not have expected the role of Parliament to be described in the Bill, but we cannot conclude our discussions without going back to that aspect because it is the top layer. In future, the new Statistics Board, which the Bill establishes and which we have all basically welcomed, will report to Parliament, and this is not a simple or perfunctory role. In my view, it is not just a question of laying a report once a year for our discussion or consideration or the occasional question. It is absolutely clear that detailed and tricky issues, such as behaviour in relation to the new code, may come back to Parliament. Therefore, I simply want to put on the record the view expressed at earlier stages, notably by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, that at some point we must consider this aspect of the new reforms, although I do not know whose task that will be. At present, two committees—one in each House—go close to the subject matter. There is the Treasury Committee in the other place and the Economic Affairs Committee here, but neither is fit for purpose for the new Bill. The Treasury Committee basically deals with Treasury issues, but we have made it clear time and again that we are dealing with issues relating to all departments. The same kind of point relates to the Economic Affairs Committee, so something new has to be established if Parliament’s job under the reforms is to be carried out. The subject that has occupied us most is the relationship between the board and the National Statistician. At previous stages, we have asked for greater clarity, which means, first, clarity about the role of the board. I greatly appreciate the Government’s amendments. I thank the Minister and others who have been involved. We have gone a long way towards responding to the worried views expressed on this matter here by the Royal Statistical Society and the Statistics Commission. These amendments go far enough to leave the rest in the hands of a very good board. We perhaps should remind ourselves of our concern that the board should be non-executive. That is covered in the Bill, but I still worry a little about the spirit behind the final stage, partly because of the recruitment process, which has been mentioned. It is not so much the salary as the three-day week which, to my way of thinking, does not sound very non-executive. It is very important that there is a clear distinction between the chairman’s non-executive role and the National Statistician's executive role. Thanks to the Government’s amendments, the precise functions of the chief executive of the statistics system—the National Statistician—are now clearer. For my money, I would still have liked a little more reference to her role vis-à-vis the whole of the Government Statistical Service or statisticians in other departments. However, that is not there, and I think that we can probably leave it to the new board to ensure that it is viewed as a single system. On the whole, almost sufficient clarity has been achieved on that worrying issue of the board vis-à-vis the National Statistician. However, a lack of clarity remains—I do not know whether it is too late to hope for more amendments at Third Reading—in that there are references in earlier parts of the Bill to the board producing statistics and all the details that that encompasses. I would have preferred those references in Clauses 6, 17 and so on, to go, but it is probably not worth fussing about at this point. I shall no longer use the term ““muddle””, as we now have a slightly demisted muddle and I am very grateful to the Government for what they have done.