Clause 3
Statistics and Registration Service Bill
12:00 pm
Stewart Hosie (Spokesperson (Economy; Home Affairs; Treasury; Women); Dundee East, Scottish National Party)
I wish to speak to amendments Nos. 5 and 6, which concern the appointment of non-executive members to the board. The hon. Member for Sevenoaks described the three board members appointed under clause 3(4) as territorial and said that they might fail to criticise statistics from the devolved Administrations because they will rely on them for their appointments. The whole point about the way in which the clause is drafted is that they should not be territorial and should rely not on the Administrations but on the Treasury for their appointments. I shall come on to that later.
I turn first to the helpful summary briefing provided by the Financial Secretary. It begins with a rather short sentence: “Statistics matter.” It goes on to say that they should allow
“people to judge whether the Government is delivering on its promises. High-quality statistics are a key resource for government, business, academia and the wider community.”
I agree entirely. Indeed, on Second Reading, I explained that our difficulty in Scotland with some statistics, particularly some of the economic ones, is that we cannot trust much of what we see. The general expenditure review for Scotland, designed as a political initiative, is fatally flawed. Information is often wrong and can come with so many caveats that a new analysis of the economy is almost impossible.
It is essential that statistics are accurate and based on complete information—I agree entirely with what the hon. Member for Slough said today and on Second Reading—as well as impartial, and seen to be so, as I have said previously. That is why the provision in the Bill for the appointment of the non-executive members of the board remains of some concern to me. Clause 3(2) describes non-executive members as
“the chairman ... and at least five other persons”.
Clause 3(4) describes what appear to be territorial representatives, but they are not. It reads:
“one person who is appointed by the Treasury after consulting the Scottish Ministers”,
another
“after consulting the Welsh Ministers”,
and another
“after consulting the Department of Finance and Personnel for Northern Ireland.”
I hope that the intention is that they be territorial representatives—someone from each of the devolved Administrations—but the Bill does not say that. It states specifically that the appointments will be made by the Treasury.
To improve the perception of impartiality and to rebuild trust—we have heard in many debates about the lack of trust and confidence in statistics—I believe that it would make far more sense to allow the devolved Administrations to appoint members. We should also remove what might be perceived as a blocking mechanism—the Treasury appointments. For statistics to be impartial, and seen to be so, the fundamental underlying structure of their production must be beyond reproach. I cannot identify a reason for the provision of Treasury appointments other than Treasury command and control. I spent the weekend trying to work out why it is there. Does it represent a lack of trust in appointments by the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies? I find that hard to believe. They are made up of elected politicians with a mandate and Ministers with responsibility for their nation or province.
If statistics are to be impartial, and seen to be so, the means of their production must be beyond reproach and any accusation or allegation of political interference. I look forward to the Financial Secretary’s justification for retaining what appears to be an overweening Treasury command and control mechanism.