Statistics and Registration Service Bill

Before my noble friend replies, I offer one or two brief comments on what the Minister said. He emphasised the fact that he is trying to follow precedents in other cases and is dismissing arguments advanced from this side of the Chamber in that they are not supported by precedent. I approach the legislation on the basis that if we do no more than that we will not achieve its primary purpose; namely, to restore trust. We will have to go further than would otherwise have been the case because, if I may put it this way, there is so much lost ground to be made up. I hope that the Minister will recognise not only in this Motion of my noble friend but in others that are coming we really have to fall over backwards to try to create circumstances that will engender trust. The Minister merely says, ““Well, this has not been done in the case of this or that other organisation””. That is not the game we are in today. With respect, we are concerned with the Minister’s intentions. I made this very clear at Second Reading: our objective is to help the Minister to achieve his intentions. If we are going to achieve that, we must be prepared to be bold and innovative. That is what we are looking for from the Government Front Bench. I have to say that so far we have not had it.