Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (Disclosure of Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2009

I thank the noble Baroness and I am grateful for her kind good wishes. I was absolutely terrified to find that the noble Lord, Lord Bates, is truly fascinated by databases—things that send horror and shivers through my spine. The questions posed by noble Lords self-evidently require simple and clear answers. However, some go beyond the scope of this rather narrow secondary legislation. As regards why information is required, we think that it is essential in order to assess the plausibility of existing assumptions about school-age children. It is also a question of understanding change over time—we are talking about censuses which are 10 years apart—improving existing methods for estimating the school-age population, monitoring variations in number and characteristics of migrant children and data linkage and matching. I shall come back to security. It is easier to deal with the questions on which I can give clear reassurance. The key thing to note is that this legislation provides for information to be used only in a particular way. The problem we have with the school census is that it does precisely the same thing. It allows the statistics collected therein to be used for education purposes only. This legislation allows it to be used to study migrant populations as well. The noble Lord asked the simple and seductive question, ““Why not wait until 2011?””. We believe that more and better information is required for the next comprehensive spending round in 2010, but information from the census will not be available until 2013. Therefore, collecting information through this secondary legislation will be very important in that area. As regards whether this constitutes a final list, further secondary legislation would be required if things needed to be added. The ONS has asked for all the data that it needs, and therefore there are no plans to seek any extension thereto but, if there were, your Lordships would have to be consulted, as further legislation would be required. On security, the statisticians who will receive the information once it is transferred will number no more than 20. Therefore, we are talking about a very small number of people. The data transmission will be conducted at a high security level with the information being encrypted or sent in another secure manner. The Government and every parent are rightly concerned about the transfer of information regarding their children. The ONS has a very good record of retaining and holding on to information, and we believe that there is no reason for great concern in this area. However, we are not complacent. A series of incidents has reminded us of the need for improvements to be made in the transfer of data. That issue will be taken on board. The noble Baroness referred to the coroners Bill. What is provided for in this secondary legislation can be used only for the purposes of this legislation. It is not possible for it to be used for any other purpose without further secondary legislation being introduced, as I said. The other thing that I should say is that there is no link whatever between the 400,000 people having access to the contact point and the regulations in respect of the school census which, as I said, is restricted to a number of statisticians in the ONS numbering no greater than 20. On parental permission for sharing, the fair processing notice already advises parents that the data may be used for statistical purposes only. In that sense, the parents’ notification at an early stage meets the point raised. I am sure that I have not answered adequately a number of points raised by the noble Baroness in particular, but some of them seemed to go beyond the provisions of the regulations. I am more than happy to take them on board and seek to respond in writing. She made a number of linking points to other pieces of legislation. I can be categorical about this piece of secondary legislation, but I am happy to look at those points and respond further, and to respond to the noble Lord on the points that I have missed. If he wants to respond on a major issue, he may by all means do so.