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Statistics and Registration Service Bill

The issue I raise is not to do with why the Government have changed their mind since six years ago. The Statistics Commission was not the same as the ONS. Its role was to support it, and to invigilate—to be a watchdog—but also to be a supporter. The Government still need to explain, if not fully this evening then certainly in Committee—regardless of whether I am a member of it—why they could not just have made the Statistics Commission a statutory body, which would have allowed it to go on doing the technical work that the Minister has talked about. I am presuming that the reason is not to save money, because the Statistics Commission has not cost much money. There must be some other real reason, which I do not think Members yet understand.