---

Statistics and Registration Service Bill

I certainly prefer the term ““statistics”” to ““official statistics”” because, as we debated endlessly in Committee, it covers a wider range of data. It had not occurred to me that new clause 3(1)(c) as drafted might refer to the production by companies of private or commercial statistics. However, it makes pretty clear exactly what is required—that statistics, if they are to be produced by the different territories, must be as consistent as possible. My hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet is right to want to give that duty to the National Statistician. I turn, if I may, to my amendment No. 1 and Government amendment No. 48. Let me say straight away to the Minister that he has kept his word. In Committee, we introduced the concept of ““public good””, and he has offered up a definition of it and acted to put it on the statute for the first time. I thank him for that. It is important, as the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael) said, to get that wider objective on the statute. Any criticisms that I now make of the Minister’s drafting should not detract from the general welcome that I give to getting those words in. In amendment No. 48, the Minister refers to"““the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good.””" That is all very well, but on looking at that phrase more carefully, we note that he is referring to"““statistics that serve the public good””," rather than to statistics whose purpose is to serve the public good. That is not simply a nit-picking point. It implies, of course, that some official statistics will not be serving the public good—that another set of statistics is not involved with the public good. That is a little unfortunate, and perhaps the drafting can be improved in that regard.