Statistics and Registration Service Bill

My Lords, my name is attached to the amendment and I shall speak briefly to two aspects of it. The first is an aspect that we discussed under Amendment No. 1—statistics at levels lower than the national. We have had a good airing of that issue. In replying to Amendment No. 1, the Minister accepted the importance of statistics at those levels. He argued that Amendment No. 1 was not the best way of recognising that in the Bill. Given the importance of the issue, however, I hope that he can accept Amendment No. 3, because it is the only other way in which the Bill can refer to the importance of local statistics. The second, and final, aspect of the amendment about which I feel particularly strongly is the question of how we achieve high levels of public trust in statistics. At Second Reading, almost every speech referred at some length to the problems that have arisen in the way in which statistics have been used and the consequent falling levels of public trust. If one believes the statistic, well under 20 per cent of the population believes any figure that the Government publish. Therefore, requiring the board to think about specific activity that might help to restore faith in statistics would be very valuable. It is all very well producing statistics properly, but a proactive programme by the board to explain what it is doing and why statistics are being produced under its watch to the highest possible standard would be very worth while. Without that in the Bill, this area will, by definition, fall to the bottom of the list. As I said, the board needs a proactive policy to explain to the people of this country why they can again have a high level of trust in statistics. If my memory serves me correctly, the Government were equally keen to point out at Second Reading that restoring trust in statistics was the central purpose of the Bill, so I am sure that they will find it in themselves to accept the amendment.