Statistics and Registration Service Bill

I will speak to new clause 5 and amendment No. 23, which would remove clause 11 from the Bill. The Government have set out in the Bill a series of measures to improve people’s confidence in national statistics because they are aware of people’s concerns about the existing system. One of the principal areas of concern is the use to which pre-release access is put. There is worry that, because of pre-release access, Ministers and civil servants have the power to shape the presentation of data, or, to use the words in Committee of the hon. Member for Hove (Ms Barlow), who is sadly not in the Chamber, to give ““the statistics … serious treatment.”” We spent some time in Committee discussing pre-release access, so I do not need to repeat in detail the arguments and examples that were cited to illustrate the problems surrounding such access to statistics. However, let me cite one quote that we heard in Committee, which characterises people’s concerns about pre-release. Liam Halligan, the economic editor of The Sunday Telegraph has said:"““I can tell you from personal experience that pre-release is constantly used by the government to divert the media away from numbers which make for uncomfortable reading. It allows pre-emptive spin, with government departments sometimes putting out data designed to contradict evidence about to be revealed by the industrious, independent boffins from the ONS.””" There is thus a strong belief that pre-release is used to enable the Government to manage the news agenda—to divert attention from what some might call the inconvenient truth. It is fair to summarise our debate in Committee by saying that there was broadly a consensus that pre-release access to market-sensitive statistics was appropriate for Ministers. However, there was a sharp distinction between those who thought that the mechanics of pre-release access should be determined by the board, and those who felt that that was a matter for the Government. There was a distinction between Committee members who opted for a permissive approach to pre-release in the amount of time given to Ministers and civil servants to consider the treatment of statistics, and those who preferred a shorter period of access for a much tighter group of people. New clause 5 represents a more robust approach to pre-release than the Government seek, because it would give the board, not the Government, the power to draw up the code on pre-release, albeit after consultation, rather than leaving it to Ministers to draw up regulations that would subsequently be approved by Parliament. Our new clause gives the board the power to define:"““(a) the circumstances in which, or descriptions of statistics in relation to which, pre-release access may or may not be granted;""(b) the persons, or descriptions of persons, to whom pre-release access may be granted;""(c) the period, or maximum period, during which pre-release access may be so granted;""(d) the conditions subject to which pre-release access may be granted.””" Those are all vital issues that affect how pre-release is used. Clause 11 requires the issue to be addressed in a code, but our new clause 5 goes further: it would require the board to publish a list of statistics that are subject to pre-release, and the people to whom pre-release access is given. Those two measures will add to the transparency surrounding the release of statistical data. They pick up on the concerns expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Fallon) in Committee. He spoke of the difficulty of finding out who had access to statistics prior to their release. He cited an example in which, although 40 people had prior access to unemployment data, he was able to find that out only by trawling websites. The new clause would put into primary legislation a commitment that the Financial Secretary made before Committee about the as yet unseen secondary legislation. He said that the secondary legislation would cover the two issues that I have addressed, but it is unfortunate that, although the Bill has reached Report, we have yet to have sight of that draft secondary legislation. Pre-release arrangements are lax, and they provide a framework that enables people to use the time before the public release of data to put a gloss on those data for the media. They soften the media up before data are published. By asking the board to define the code, we are giving it the power to produce guidelines that will enhance the integrity of the publication of statistics. That will enhance the credibility of the process for users, and it will give the statistics a chance to speak for themselves, rather than being obscured by spin and presentation. When giving evidence to the Treasury Committee, the Financial Secretary himself said:"““I would certainly accept that the pre-release arrangements contribute to the perception of interference in statistics.””" Our proposals would ensure that the arrangements for pre-release were determined independently of Government but in consultation with them and the devolved Administrations, and they would tackle the perception of interference with statistics. Pre-release is one of the crucial issues to do with the Bill, and it determines the way in which people perceive the process to work. Although the Government have made some progress by seeking to formalise the arrangements through secondary legislation, subject to the affirmative procedure, it is important that the power to determine the mechanics for pre-release should be in the hands of the board. The board has been given many powers in the Bill, but it should be given one further power: the power to ensure that it can set in place the mechanics for pre-release. It is only by tackling such issues that we will start to mitigate some of the cynicism about the Government’s production of statistics. If the board is given the powers that we propose, it will put the release process at arm’s length from the Government. It will ensure that more people have confidence in the statistics that are published, and that we move away from the current position, in which it seems that whenever sensitive statistics are produced, a process of softening-up takes place. To reflect on the comments made by Liam Halligan, people’s attention is diverted from figures that might prove inconvenient to the Government, and directed towards more favourable figures. It is important to let statistics speak for themselves; they should not be subject to pre-emptive spin.