Statistics and Registration Service Bill

On the face of it, the clause is pretty draconian. The definition of a ““serious failure”” could be pretty flexible. If the Minister believes that his colleagues here are always reasonable and sensible, perhaps he might contemplate the fact thatMr Salmond gets rather fed up with the Statistics Board producing statistics which inaccurately reflect the future of oil reserves in Scotland. The noble Baroness is therefore right to raise serious questions about the broad sweep of this clause. It would be helpful if the Minister gave us some idea of what the Government consider the kindof circumstances in which it might be invoked, particularly those in which the Government would not simultaneously invoke the earlier clauses about removing either the chair or non-executive directors. In many circumstances—relatively rare ones, I suspect—that would be the more logical way of doing it. If the Government’s view is that they wish to retain the power, having to come to Parliament to do it would serve as a break on their willingness to do so, as noble Lords have said.