Statistics and Registration Service Bill

My Lords, I ask the Minister to address the point about adequate resources in a slightly different way. The future is more important than the past and the Bill is intended to create a new set of circumstances, which it will. The independence of the board is at the heart of the Government’s endeavour. No doubt, under the funding agreement, terms and conditions will be set. If they are set in a certain way, the resources may turn out to be adequate but if they are set in another way, they may turn out to be inadequate. I have in mind the regime within funding agreements of core targets and performance indicators and everything that can be included in such a regime. It is probably true that the Government are moving away from what has on many occasions been rather a heavy-handed approach to the terms on which public bodies should be funded towards a light-touch approach. I should be most grateful if the Minister could assure the House that we are talking about true independence, a light touch and not too many core targets and performance indicators in the future.