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Liaison Committee

My Lords, very briefly, I am sad that another place has declined to accept the unanimous view of the Liaison Committee of this House that the Statistics Authority should be monitored by a Joint Committee of both Houses. I am grateful to the Leader of the House, who sought to persuade her opposite number in another place that this was a good idea, and I regret that she was unable to prevail. The fact that it has taken nearly six months between the decision of the Liaison Committee and the communication she reported to it last week is not, I hope, a reflection of the attitude of another place towards this House. It is a sad moment but we will hear more of this because my right honourable friends in another place have said that they support us and I hope the Houses may be able to revisit the issue in a couple of years’ time.