Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007 (Disclosure of Social Security Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012
Executive Committee Business
11:30 am
Sammy Wilson (DUP)
I beg to move
That the Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007 (Disclosure of Social Security Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 be affirmed.
Members, the regulations for your consideration today are part of a wider programme of work to utilise existing government-held information for the production of population and social statistics in Northern Ireland.
The Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007 created a new non-ministerial Department, the Statistics Board, to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. The Act extends to Northern Ireland and these regulations are being made under powers contained in that Act.
The national insurance register has been identified as an important source of data on individuals that could be used to improve population and social statistics. The register is owned jointly by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Social Development (DSD).
Regulations have already been made at Westminster to allow HMRC and DWP to pass national insurance registered data to the Statistics Board. The regulations under consideration today will allow the DSD to pass national insurance registered data to the Statistics Board.
The type of information that will be shared is simple, demographic data, which, among other things, will inform future estimates of the number of people living in Northern Ireland. Under the legislation, the Statistics Board are able to release the national insurance register’s social security information to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), which is responsible for the production of population and social statistics in Northern Ireland. Although the regulations will allow access to personal information, it is forbidden to publish any information that could identify an individual, and data has to be held under very strict conditions.
The regulations have been considered by the Committee for Finance and Personnel and the Committee for Social Development and no objections were raised. Therefore, I recommend that the Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007 (Disclosure of Social Security Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 be affirmed.
Conor Murphy (Sinn Féin)
Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. As the Minister has outlined, the regulations will enable the DSD to disclose selected customer information from the national insurance register and social security records for the use of NISRA in developing local demographic statistics. The information will also be used for the checking and verification of the 2011 census results.
The policy proposals contained in the statutory rule were considered by the Committee for Finance and Personnel on 9 May, when it was agreed to invite Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) officials to brief the Committee. Given the role of DSD in the disclosure of the relevant information, it was also agreed to seek the views and comments of the Committee for Social Development. On 18 May, that Committee confirmed that it had no comment to make on the policy proposals.
DFP officials provided a useful oral briefing to the Committee on 23 May, and they confirmed that the driving force behind the regulations was the creation of population estimates that were as robust as possible and that would be used to inform policy decisions and the allocation of resources. Committee members were assured that protocols would be put in place in respect of the access to and use of personal data and information security. Officials also advised that consideration will be given as to whether there is a potential to move, subject to EU requirements, from a traditional census to the use of existing administrative data that is supplemented by the surveys. That could mean the availability of census-type information on a more regular basis.
The Committee formally considered the statutory rule that is before the Assembly at its meeting of 6 June, together with the accompanying report from the Assembly’s Examiner of Statutory Rules. The Examiner raised no issues by way of technical scrutiny. As the Committee had agreed to copy the initial policy proposals to the Committee for Social Development, it also agreed to copy the statutory rule to that Committee for comment. In the meantime, the Committee agreed to recommend that the Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007 (Disclosure of Social Security Information) Regulations 2012 be affirmed by the Assembly, subject to any views from the Committee for Social Development. It was subsequently confirmed that that Committee had no comment to make on the statutory rule. Therefore, on behalf of the Committee for Finance and Personnel, I support the motion.
Leslie Cree (UUP)
The regulations we are dealing with allow the Department for Social Development to disclose information to the Statistics Board in respect of individuals in connection with certain benefit payments. That is necessary, as has been said, to enable the board to carry out its functions.
It is worth noting that clauses 5 and 6(a) only permit the Statistics Board to disclose such information to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, and only for the purpose of assisting the Statistics Board’s production of population statistics. I also note that a regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this rule, and no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen. The rule is subject to affirmative resolution by the Assembly, and I am happy that that be granted today.
Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. On behalf of the SDLP, I support the motion. This measure can help to ensure that we have accurate statistics available to us, which will help to verify information available through the census. Of course, we want to be reassured that all data used in that way will be subject to the utmost security. I am sure that the Minister can and will give us that assurance. We have no other issues with the measure. Go raibh míle maith agat.
Mitchel McLaughlin (Sinn Féin)
What a nice surprise. [Laughter.] In this particular instance, the Committee got all the consultation that it needed. I am quite happy to join with my colleagues and endorse the regulations.
Sammy Wilson (DUP)
It is not very often we see the Member lost for words, but it was a nice occasion anyhow. I am glad that he is pleased with the level of scrutiny that the Committee was able to give on this occasion and that we do not have a repeat of yesterday.
I thank Members who commented on the regulations and welcome their remarks. I also thank the Chairman of the Finance and Personnel Committee and the Social Development Committee. Those two Committees carried out the scrutiny of the regulations.
The main concerns, and the ones that have been raised by Mr Bradley, the Chairman of the Finance and Personnel Committee and Mr Cree in the debate, are around the security of the data. Assurances were given and spelt out to the Committee during the discussions that it had. There are a number of things.
First, no identifiable information will be made public. Although we will be collecting names and addresses etc, all of that is for internal use only to identify where people live and how many people live there so that we have a comprehensive picture of population in Northern Ireland.
I accept the Minister’s assurance, but, like me, he will probably recall several instances in England where computer disks have gone missing and the personalised information stored on those discs has fallen into the public domain. Can the Minister assure us that that type of incident will not happen in this case?
Sammy Wilson (DUP)
The Member interrupted me; I had only got to the first point that I want to make. I have made the point that no identifiable information will be made public. We will seek to ensure that through a number of other steps, because there will be a strict adherence to the statistics code of practice, which should help to ensure that no information about an identifiable person is made public. The data will be stored in a dedicated facility to which only nominated users will have access. All users will be subject to relevant security checks. There will also be strong penalties for any unlawful disclosure of information, which can go right up to a term of imprisonment of up to two years. At all times, the storage and use of data will be subject to the Data Protection Act 1998. People who will be using the data will be trained so that they know their obligations about keeping data secure, disclosure of data, and so on. All those steps will be in place.
Can I give an assurance that some person at some stage may not take a chance and breach all those rules? In any human situation, one cannot give a guarantee. All I can say is that every possible step will be taken, from training to setting down clear rules to imposing sanctions against individuals who break the rules. All those steps have been and will be taken to ensure that data is as secure as possible. I hope that that at least assures Members that the issue is not being treated lightly. The statistics are an important source of information that can tell us how many people there are, the types of people, where they are located, and so on. All that information is useful in deciding future public policy.
I thank Members for their interest and support. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved:
That the Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007 (Disclosure of Social Security Information) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 be affirmed.