Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (Disclosure of Pupil Information by Welsh Ministers) Regulations 2011

My Lords, I have no intention whatever of objecting to these regulations, but I should be grateful for one or two points of clarification on the ONS regulations. First, I noted the emphasis placed by the Minister on data confidentiality, which obviously is central to all this. I note that in Regulation 2, the list of details about the pupil that will be made available excludes, of course, the pupil’s home address, presumably because of the dangers that exist. Yet, it includes the postcode. Certainly, with the name of Wigley and a postcode in my area, it would be fairly clear who that person is, although it may be more difficult with the Evanses and the Joneses. Given that, there cannot be a watertight assertion of data confidentiality. My second point is in regard to Regulation 2(a)(vii), which refers to the, "““ethnic group and source of that information””." I am not quite sure what is meant by the ““source of that information””, but I imagine that it could be a matter for some consternation. Is the Minister in a position to tell me why? If not, perhaps he would be good enough to drop me a note about it because I realise that I may be splitting some hairs on these matters. Thirdly, Regulation 2(c) refers to: "““the pupil’s level of fluency in English””." Given that we are considering the position in Wales, where English and Welsh are equal official languages since last year’s enactment, why is it only English that is required here, as opposed to English and Welsh? In the same sub-paragraph, there is a reference to a ““pupil’s first language””. What is the definition of a ““first language””? That is not always altogether clear. In a bilingual or multilingual community, is it the language that was the first to be spoken by the child or the language in which the child is more fluent by the time that child is in school? A definition of ““first language”” would be very helpful. Again in that sub-paragraph, as the pupil’s fluency in English is the key, what is the position of a child who comes over, as a number of children have, from Patagonia to settle in Wales, whose first language is Welsh and whose second language is Spanish? Does that not raise a few questions about the accuracy of information that may be gathered in this way? My last point concerns the restriction on further disclosure of personal information in Regulation 4(a)(i), which says: "““disclosure is required by any enactment””." Does that mean that any enactment on either a UK, an England and Wales basis or a Wales basis? Is it all-inclusive, or is it meant to refer only to UK or England and Wales enactments? I would be very grateful for some clarification on those few questions, and I look forward to it.