Statistics and Registration Service Bill

My Lords, I beg to move, That this House do not insist on its Amendments Nos. 1 to 9, 21 to 30, 40 to 64 and 66, and do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 66A to 66QQQ in lieu. The amendments are all concerned with where residual responsibility for the board should lie. As we have set out both here and in the other place, the Government believe that, if the provisions to ensure the independence of the board are effective, the question of who has residual responsibility will become much less significant. We have explained at some length the mechanisms that we are putting in place to ensure independence for the board. These include an assured, five-year funding package, set outside the normal spending review process, and a commitment that all appointments to the board will be made in line with the standards set by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. In addition, as the whole House will be aware, my right honourable friend the Prime Minister made further announcements last week that relate directly to the issues before us today. I speak about the package of reforms announced last Tuesday, aimed at reforming the governance of Britain to make the Executive and Government more accountable to Parliament and to the people. The Prime Minister announced that the Government will reduce the length of time for which pre-release access is available to 24 hours—we will come to that in more detail later—and proposed that the choice of the chair of the board should be subject to an affirmative vote by the House of Commons prior to their appointment. If noble Lords consider that alongside the changes made to the Bill, and the other measures already announced, they cannot reasonably doubt the sincerity of the Government’s desire to make genuine reforms to the statistical system in the UK and to ensure that the independent board at the heart of the Bill will be just that: independent of government. Consequently, as my honourable friend the Exchequer Secretary said in another place, the Government still believe that the board would benefit from having the Treasury as the link with the Government. The Treasury has a strong interest in ensuring that we have a good evidence base; it has long experience of working with and understanding statistics; and it has a role in co-ordinating performance reporting and monitoring across government. We had hoped that retaining the link with the Treasury would build further value into the reforms. There has of course been considerable debate on this issue. The Government recognise the strength of feeling about it, particularly in this House. We are therefore prepared to agree to the shift of responsibility in principle. However, for largely technical reasons, the Government cannot accept the amendments that the House passed last time we discussed these issues. They have therefore tabled amendments in lieu, which have been accepted in the other place and which I hope noble Lords will accept. The amendments give effect to the intent of this House expressed in the votes that it cast last time. I beg to move. Moved, That this House do not insist on its Amendments Nos. 1 to 9, 21 to 30, 40 to 64 and 66, and do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 66A to 66QQQ in lieu.—(Lord Davies of Oldham.)