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Government Statistics

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, in my noble friend Lord Hamilton’s debate. The noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, referred to the "overload" of information and gave some health warnings. My purpose is to talk about departmental statistics, particularly those produced by DCSF and DIUS. I can only hope that your Lordships are up to date with which departments those acronyms represent. They produce their own national and other statistics, and the confidence in those statistics is pretty low. One of their aims is to produce data sets with the data and analysis to assess the progress being made in improving educational attainment and emotional and behavioural health—among, I assume, young people. I have three questions. First: some things have so many variables that it is difficult, or perhaps impossible, just to rely on statistical analysis. Can we really produce convincing data sets for young people’s emotional and behavioural health? Does the Minister agree that it is probably wise not to claim too much on this subject? Secondly, there are certain to be many more ways than one of moving towards the objective of improving educational attainment, and many more ways of assessing progress. Those who set the statistical questions, however, as has already been referred to, have a need to simplify if they are to offer a national answer to the questions they pose. Which answer is comparable across the board? Education cannot be simplified any more than people can be; after all, when you walk down the street you never see two people who look exactly the same, and I would apply that comment even to my granddaughters, who are identical twins. In view of this complexity and the inevitable controversy, would it not be sensible to involve someone other than the two policy departments themselves in the production of statistics—the Office for National Statistics, for example? Thirdly, there is a test of information, which is to ask: now that we have it, what can we do with it? I remember that when I was briefly in charge of a firm that was not doing terribly well, I set a test at lunch of who could produce the most interesting piece of useless information, and there was a prize for doing so. For example, the department produces statistical comparisons of educational attainment with other members of the OECD. At the moment, I cannot see what you would do with that information. However, if we produce information about so complex a subject and it is not clear to what that information will contribute, the rightly sceptical public will conclude that departments have simply come up with answers for purposes of their own. Does the Minister agree that, with all departmental statistics, there must be an explanation of why they are collected and a description of the options for action to which they could lead?