UK Parliament / Open data

Statistics and Registration Service Bill

Debate on bills on Monday, 8 January 2007, in the House of Commons, led by John Healey. The answering member was Theresa Villiers.

Statistics and Registration Service Bill. Second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Programme motion for proceedings in Committee, on Report and Third reading agreed to on question (formal). Money resolution agreed to on question (formal).

Type

Parliamentary proceeding

Reference

455 c23-111

Session

2006-07

Department

Treasury

Legislative stage

Second reading

Procedure

Programme motions
Money resolutions

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Statistics and Registration Service Bill.
Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Bills
House of Commons

Deposited Paper DEP 06/2018
Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Deposited papers
House of Commons

Independence for statistics. Treasury Select Committee tenth report with proceedings, evidence (HC 1111 i-iii not printed separately) and appendices.
Tuesday, 18 July 2006
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons

Independence for statistics. Government response to the Treasury Select Committee tenth report of session 2005-06 (HC 1111).
Thursday, 12 October 2006
Parliamentary committees
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Paul Flynn | 455 c61 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Following your lack of ruling on the word that the hon. Lad...

Speaker | 455 c61 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman can take it that it was appropriate to use the word in the way that the hon. Lady...

Show all contributions (178)

Brooks Newmark | 455 c110 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Ed Balls | 455 c110-1 (Link to this contribution) No, I shall not take any more interventions. The odd thing about the debate is that Opposition Memb...

Peter Bottomley | 455 c109 (Link to this contribution) The Economic Secretary has given one example, which he rightly says has not needed to be used. Would...

Ed Balls | 455 c109-10 (Link to this contribution) There has been a certain amount of confusion in the debate; it has been regularly said that there is...

Michael Fallon | 455 c108 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that we could overrun. I hope that the Economic Secretary understands that the issue ...

Ed Balls | 455 c108-9 (Link to this contribution) Not for the first time, there is a little dissonance between the Treasury Committee and Ministers. T...

Michael Fallon | 455 c108 (Link to this contribution) Will the Economic Secretary give way?

Ed Balls | 455 c108 (Link to this contribution) I shall take one more intervention, but then I must make progress, because otherwise we will overrun...

Ed Balls | 455 c107-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is of course absolutely right, and we are setting up a board and a code of practice to...

Kali Mountford | 455 c76-7 (Link to this contribution) I would agree with that if I believed that what people considered to be wrong was political interfer...

Robert Smith | 455 c76 (Link to this contribution) What the Bill could achieve, if dealt with properly, is the separation of politics and statistics. T...

Kali Mountford | 455 c76 (Link to this contribution) I disagree absolutely with the final remark made by the hon. Member for Braintree (Mr. Newmark). If ...

Brooks Newmark | 455 c71-6 (Link to this contribution) The intentions that underlie the Bill have been welcomed by hon. Members on both sides of the House ...

Hugh Bayley | 455 c68-71 (Link to this contribution) If I were to go into any pub in your constituency, Madam Deputy Speaker, or mine, and start talking ...

Michael Fallon | 455 c66-8 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to test the patience of the House, but I will give it one more try. We have the Comptr...

Kali Mountford | 455 c78 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman looks confused, so I shall give way to him.

Kali Mountford | 455 c78 (Link to this contribution) If that were true I would think it was the problem, but the figures are published in their entirety....

Alan Whitehead | 455 c85 (Link to this contribution) It is astonishing that we should have discussed today whether politicians try to put the best aspect...

Stewart Hosie | 455 c82-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Colne Valley (Kali Mountford) seems to have a touching faith in the integrity of...

Alan Whitehead | 455 c85-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. I was about to say that the point about a political system ...

Kali Mountford | 455 c85 (Link to this contribution) Is there not a difference between presenting information and interference? The implication is that t...

Kali Mountford | 455 c78-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made an important point, with which I was about to deal. It involves complexi...

Peter Bottomley | 455 c78 (Link to this contribution) This may be the hon. Lady’s interpretation of the argument that we are actually having about Ministe...

Kali Mountford | 455 c79-81 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will intervene on me if what I say is incorrect, but he seems to b...

Robert Smith | 455 c79 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady says that, in respect of a complex set of data, it does not matter that the Minister h...

David Gauke | 455 c87-90 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to discuss the Bill. There is common ground throughout the ...

Peter Bottomley | 455 c90 (Link to this contribution) I hope that my hon. Friend is asking whether a Minister has made a policy change immediately after t...

David Gauke | 455 c90-1 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that clarification. On international comparisons, the ho...

Rob Marris | 455 c99 (Link to this contribution) Tell us more.

Mark Hoban | 455 c98-9 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to have the opportunity to respond to the debate on behalf of the Opposition, not onl...

Peter Bottomley | 455 c95-8 (Link to this contribution) It would be helpful if the Economic Secretary could confirm that there is now agreement with the Cle...

Philip Dunne | 455 c91-5 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Hertfordshire (Mr. Gauke), who c...

Ed Balls | 455 c102-5 (Link to this contribution) I join the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) in paying tribute to speakers from both sides of the ...

Mark Hoban | 455 c100-2 (Link to this contribution) That reflects the complexity of data collection and the changing economy. The hon. Member for Slough...

Mark Hoban | 455 c99-100 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris) should have been in his place to hear it,...

Michael Fallon | 455 c105 (Link to this contribution) The Economic Secretary has announced two important safeguards for governance, and I have a couple of...

Ed Balls | 455 c105 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman in a second. It is good to see him. The national statistician...

Peter Bottomley | 455 c106 (Link to this contribution) I am unclear whether the Minister thinks that he has dealt completely and satisfactorily with the qu...

Peter Bottomley | 455 c106 (Link to this contribution) The issue I raise is not to do with why the Government have changed their mind since six years ago. ...

Ed Balls | 455 c106 (Link to this contribution) We had an earlier debate with the hon. Member for Sevenoaks about the potential for differences of v...

Vincent Cable | 455 c107 (Link to this contribution) Before the Minister moves on, will he explain how the Government envisage that the very substantial ...

Ed Balls | 455 c106-7 (Link to this contribution) There is a danger that we will hold the entire Committee proceedings in this final summing-up speech...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c107 (Link to this contribution) But the code of practice is based on impartiality, integrity and objectivity, so whatever statistics...

Ed Balls | 455 c107 (Link to this contribution) I shall come back to parliamentary scrutiny in a moment. On the board we will also endeavour to ens...

Fiona Mactaggart | 455 c58-9 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to contribute to our debate which, everyone recognises, hinges on the impo...

Vincent Cable | 455 c57-8 (Link to this contribution) The period will be 40 hours, so as to be aligned with the provisions for market-sensitive data. That...

John Healey | 455 c57 (Link to this contribution) indicated assent.

Vincent Cable | 455 c54-7 (Link to this contribution) I recognise that it is the most extreme criticism, but Bill McLennan has no political axe to grind. ...

Fiona Mactaggart | 455 c59 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right to say that a lack of trust arises when people’s experience differs from...

Brooks Newmark | 455 c59 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady honestly saying that Health Ministers do not try to spin figures to suggest that th...

Vincent Cable | 455 c53-4 (Link to this contribution) I wish to make three basic points, the first of which is recognition of the importance of this subje...

John Healey | 455 c54 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree with Bill McLennan’s assertion, and can he see anything in the Bill th...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c50 (Link to this contribution) The Financial Secretary may have missed the fact that I did welcome his announcement as a step in th...

Brian Iddon | 455 c50-3 (Link to this contribution) All right hon. and hon. Members have unfinished business. Part 2 is of special interest to me in tha...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c49 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. I am also grateful to the Financial Secretary...

Peter Bottomley | 455 c48-9 (Link to this contribution) I say clearly that the whole House—Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat Members—ought to suppor...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c49 (Link to this contribution) I think that the board should decide. If it chose to make that recommendation I could live with it, ...

Rob Marris | 455 c49 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Lady’s point about the board’s having the power on pre-release. What would her...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c49 (Link to this contribution) If the Financial Secretary is about to give an assurance to that effect, I shall welcome it.

John Healey | 455 c49 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that the hon. Lady may have constructed her speech before the debate, and that she may ...

Speaker | 455 c48 (Link to this contribution) Order. The one thing that we cannot have is interventions on interventions. If the hon. Lady made at...

Ed Balls | 455 c66 (Link to this contribution) We have made it perfectly clear that the ONS was made independent in the framework document and that...

Ed Balls | 455 c65 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Michael Fallon | 455 c65 (Link to this contribution) The Economic Secretary is getting confused. I am not saying that anybody has got anything wrong. The...

Michael Fallon | 455 c65 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not. I am saying that because such decisions have been so muddled and blurred, with the Com...

Ed Balls | 455 c65 (Link to this contribution) I am struggling to see whose judgment the hon. Gentleman is criticising. Is he saying that the natio...

Michael Fallon | 455 c64-5 (Link to this contribution) The problem is that some PFI liabilities are classified on balance sheet and some are not. Indeed, s...

Ed Balls | 455 c65 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman saying that decisions that have been made in recent years on the classificatio...

Michael Fallon | 455 c62-4 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) will forgive me if I do not follow her int...

Ed Balls | 455 c64 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman tell the House whether the proportion of PFI liabilities now classified on b...

Fiona Mactaggart | 455 c62 (Link to this contribution) I was making a serious point. When evidence from other sets of data suggests that a statistical seri...

Speaker | 455 c62 (Link to this contribution) Order. We have dwelt long enough on one word.

Peter Bottomley | 455 c62 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way?

Peter Bottomley | 455 c62 (Link to this contribution) Was the hon. Lady saying that there was more waste under Labour?

Fiona Mactaggart | 455 c62 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Member for Worthing, West (Peter Bottomley).

Julia Goldsworthy | 455 c59 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that it is not only the content of statistics but the timing of their relea...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c43 (Link to this contribution) Valuable lessons can be learned from the NAO model. We do not propose to base our policy on what hap...

Vincent Cable | 455 c43 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I can help the hon. Lady by suggesting a better source for the NAO model than Mongolia. The ...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c42 (Link to this contribution) I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that if he talks to anyone on any average high street he will be tol...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c43 (Link to this contribution) As I said, I welcome a step in the right direction, but it is too timid and will not restore the pub...

John Healey | 455 c44 (Link to this contribution) It is wrong to assert that the Bill or National Statistics focuses principally on what the ONS produ...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c43 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. Perhaps I should quote directly from the Leader of the House’s speech in 1995. He said that ...

John Healey | 455 c43 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady accept that, in the 1997 Labour party manifesto—I can provide her with a copy—whi...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c44 (Link to this contribution) As I have stated, we have evidence that a range of important figures currently fall outside the Nati...

Michael Fallon | 455 c45 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend touches on a really important point: the power of nomination and the power of initiat...

John Healey | 455 c46 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady explain to whom the separate Office for National Statistics would be accountable ...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c46-7 (Link to this contribution) The Office for National Statistics would primarily be run by the national statistician, because she ...

Paul Flynn | 455 c47 (Link to this contribution) I believe that it was in 1989 that the responsibility for statistics was transferred from the Cabine...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c47-8 (Link to this contribution) Clearly, the hon. Gentleman is concerned about the decision back in the ’80s to shift responsibility...

John Healey | 455 c48 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree with the principle of pre-release?

Theresa Villiers | 455 c48 (Link to this contribution) I believe that the independent board should be able to set the rules on pre-release. That may mean t...

Hugh Bayley | 455 c48 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Lady taken advice from the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Fallon) or the hon. Member fo...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c48 (Link to this contribution) No—

Philip Dunne | 455 c37 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Financial Secretary for giving way; he is being most generous with his time. In...

John Healey | 455 c37 (Link to this contribution) For any Minister accountable directly to the public and the House for policy areas that impinge on m...

John Healey | 455 c39-40 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, with his customary close attention to detail, is right. The general duty that the st...

David Gauke | 455 c37-8 (Link to this contribution) I, too, am grateful to the Financial Secretary for his generosity in accepting interventions. Howeve...

John Healey | 455 c38 (Link to this contribution) On Second Reading, we deal largely with the Bill’s principles. I hope that the hon. Gentleman, who h...

Lord Tyrie | 455 c37 (Link to this contribution) It is on that very point that I would like the Minister to respond. He said that there had been an “...

John Healey | 455 c37 (Link to this contribution) I accept the general argument for tightening the pre-release arrangements, and the Bill and the seco...

John Healey | 455 c37 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie), before returning to the point raised ...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c40-1 (Link to this contribution) In scrutinising this Bill, the Opposition’s goal is to restore public trust in official figures by t...

Fiona Mactaggart | 455 c41 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has implied that this is a new phenomenon. The Royal Statistical Society has pointed o...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c41 (Link to this contribution) I am not asserting that there have never been problems with public trust in statistics in the past, ...

Kali Mountford | 455 c41-2 (Link to this contribution) Before we let the political knockabout go too far, should we not stick to some facts? I am using the...

Rob Marris | 455 c42 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is saying that statistics should not be spun. She said earlier that confidence is at a...

Hugh Bayley | 455 c41 (Link to this contribution) I counsel the hon. Lady that she might do better to focus on the measures in the Bill to improve the...

Peter Bottomley | 455 c41 (Link to this contribution) Just for balance, for which the hon. Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley) is noted, let me point ou...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c41 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention.

John Healey | 455 c32-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes the point that he often makes about his view of actuaries. I can give him that ...

Rob Marris | 455 c31-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his usual generosity in giving way. As he knows, it is my view t...

John Healey | 455 c31 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. Of course, the Bill deals with official statistics, but a g...

Kali Mountford | 455 c31 (Link to this contribution) On setting standards, the hon. Member for South-West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous), who has now left ...

John Healey | 455 c33 (Link to this contribution) As I said earlier, the purpose of the Bill is to create a framework that can evolve in the light of ...

Vincent Cable | 455 c33 (Link to this contribution) Does the Financial Secretary accept that the difficulty is often not the type of statistics but the ...

John Healey | 455 c33 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has got the wrong end of the stick. The point about the code and the responsibility of...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c33 (Link to this contribution) It seems strange that the Government are prepared to contemplate a range of official statistics that...

John Bercow | 455 c34 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman seemed to be perilously close to suggesting that some statistics currently collec...

John Healey | 455 c34 (Link to this contribution) No doubt we shall return to such detailed points in our deliberations in Committee. However, in my v...

Michael Fallon | 455 c34 (Link to this contribution) The Financial Secretary refers to the welcome statutory basis for the appointment of the national st...

John Healey | 455 c34 (Link to this contribution) I welcome my hon. Friend’s remarks and his support for the work of the ONS more generally. I am glad...

Rob Marris | 455 c35-6 (Link to this contribution) I was not sure at which point in the debate I might seek clarification on an aspect of the census. I...

John Healey | 455 c34-5 (Link to this contribution) The national statistician will continue to be the Government’s principal statistical adviser and wil...

Vincent Cable | 455 c36 (Link to this contribution) : The Minister makes a cogent case for pre-release, but is there any reason why Britain should have ...

John Healey | 455 c36 (Link to this contribution) I will come to the specifics of pre-release periods later. I think that that is the subject in which...

John Healey | 455 c37 (Link to this contribution) All the established procedures were followed after that inadvertent indication of the unemployment s...

John Healey | 455 c27 (Link to this contribution) I should like to make two points. First, as I have said to the hon. Lady, the scope of the Bill is n...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c27 (Link to this contribution) The Financial Secretary asserted that the coverage of national statistics was very wide, and that th...

John Healey | 455 c27 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House is here, because the hon. Member for Buc...

John Bercow | 455 c27 (Link to this contribution) The Financial Secretary has stated explicitly that the statistics board will be independent of the G...

John Healey | 455 c26 (Link to this contribution) This is an issue that hon. Members will wish to consider carefully, both in this debate and in Commi...

Lord Tyrie | 455 c26 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way; he is being typically generous in doing so this aftern...

Chris Bryant | 455 c28 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Financial Secretary, who has been extraordinarily generous in giving way this a...

John Healey | 455 c28 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an interesting specific example, which, it strikes me, relates principally to ...

Gordon Prentice | 455 c27 (Link to this contribution) A lot rides on the movement of the retail prices index. Who will decide which items in future will b...

John Healey | 455 c27-8 (Link to this contribution) The Bill makes it clear that the residual functions and responsibilities discharged by the Chancello...

David Gauke | 455 c30 (Link to this contribution) Will the Financial Secretary tell us what percentage of respondents agreed with the Government’s app...

John Healey | 455 c29-30 (Link to this contribution) The overall inflation rate is the same for everyone. As I have explained, some items may be subject ...

John Bercow | 455 c30 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for generously giving way again. Given that the Bill purports to be about...

John Healey | 455 c30 (Link to this contribution) I will come on to that a little later, if I am able to reach that point in my remarks, but let me sa...

Brooks Newmark | 455 c28 (Link to this contribution) I should like to ask a more practical question. The national statistician talked about a lack of rel...

Brooks Newmark | 455 c28 (Link to this contribution) I do not mean to try the Financial Secretary’s patience, but the fact is that there is a lack of tru...

John Healey | 455 c28 (Link to this contribution) For the conduct of monetary policy and Government economic policy making, we clearly have to have a ...

John Healey | 455 c30-1 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman looks more closely at the Bill, and in particular at clause 11, he will see th...

John Healey | 455 c31 (Link to this contribution) We have an established system for judging our fiscal rules and the economic cycle. As the hon. Gentl...

Andrew Selous | 455 c26 (Link to this contribution) Statistics are collected on only seven of the eight indices of social exclusion listed by the social...

John Healey | 455 c26 (Link to this contribution) The Office for National Statistics, particularly its programme to relocate much of its personnel and...

Paul Flynn | 455 c25-6 (Link to this contribution) In the name of the 1,300 people who work in the statistics office in my constituency, I welcome the ...

John Healey | 455 c25 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) and then to some Opposi...

Alun Michael | 455 c25 (Link to this contribution) On the question of data sharing, does the Minister accept that it is essential that information does...

John Healey | 455 c25 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is right that there is indeed a strong public interest in greater sharing of ad...

John Healey | 455 c25 (Link to this contribution) If my right hon. Friend examines the detailed proposals, he will see that the principal part of the ...

Lord Field of Birkenhead | 455 c24-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful and add my congratulations to the Government on introducing the Bill. However, going b...

John Healey | 455 c24 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field).

John Healey | 455 c24 (Link to this contribution) I said a moment ago that I welcomed and was glad of the Treasury Committee’s active interest. I pay ...

Lord McFall of Alcluith | 455 c23-4 (Link to this contribution) I commend the Government for introducing the Bill, which, as my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary ...

John Healey | 455 c24 (Link to this contribution) I shall come on to the Bill’s proposals for data sharing. I hope that the essential feature will rea...

David Leslie Taylor | 455 c24 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Financial Secretary is well aware of the importance of nationally collected stati...

John Healey | 455 c23 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. I am pleased to open the debate on Second R...

Ed Balls | 455 c105-6 (Link to this contribution) Before the hon. Gentleman arrived in the Chamber, I paid tribute to the thorough and effective repor...

Michael Fallon | 455 c65-6 (Link to this contribution) No—I think that the Economic Secretary has had a fair crack at this. He, of all people, should be aw...

John Healey | 455 c43 (Link to this contribution) It is unclear what the hon. Lady is proposing rather than simply criticising. Is it still her policy...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c41 (Link to this contribution) I assure the House that I am going to consider in detail these provisions, some of which are welcome...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c48 (Link to this contribution) My response was going to be that I was certain that my hon. Friends would be able to speak for thems...

Fiona Mactaggart | 455 c61 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Rob Marris | 455 c38 (Link to this contribution) Some of the safeguards that my hon. Friend announced, particularly the second one, are foreshadowed ...

Philip Dunne | 455 c31 (Link to this contribution) Will the national statistician have responsibility for advising Ministers, or the country, on the st...

Brooks Newmark | 455 c77-8 (Link to this contribution) The issue of public confidence comes down to how politicians manipulate the statistics that they are...

Fiona Mactaggart | 455 c59-61 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is doing something that I counselled hon. Members not to do, by assuming that politici...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c42 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady. There is no doubt that there are problems in understanding complex s...

Paul Flynn | 455 c34 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that cynicism about Government statistics is not new? Alan Clark recalled ...

Rob Marris | 455 c100 (Link to this contribution) Looking back a paragraph or so, one of the reasons for lessening confidence in public statistics is ...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c45-6 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that useful contribution. He has much to offer our debate and I congratul...

John Healey | 455 c36 (Link to this contribution) The answer to my hon. Friend’s first question is that technical queries about methodology and questi...

Theresa Villiers | 455 c36 (Link to this contribution) The Minister referred to market-sensitive figures that are pre-released to Ministers. Was he concern...

John Healey | 455 c26 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will wish to elaborate on that point in the debate on social exclu...

Subjects

Access

Assessments

Disclosure of information

Conditions of employment

Databases

Codes of practice

Abuse

Accountability

Departmental responsibilities

Finance

Freedom of information