Clause 5
Statistics and Registration Service Bill
1:45 pm
John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
I am glad that the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet takes her role as shadow Chief Secretary seriously.
I can assure the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire, who is concerned about some of the same points as the hon. Lady, that provisions in the Bill do not mean that individual appointments will have to be brought before the Minister for the Civil Service as a matter of course, principally because that is in fact the Prime Minister. The provisions in the Bill essentially reflect the fact that, because the statistics board will be set up as a non-departmental body, on the basis that we explained previously, we see the board’s employees as continuing to be civil servants. That move has been generally welcomed by those employed by the ONS, as well as by the principal unions that represent staff in the organisation.
The principal unions representing staff might also have views on other matters that the hon. Member for Sevenoaks raised. Before I address those, however, I should say that, on the procedural points that he and the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet raised, I intend to write to the Committee to set out in detail what the broad implications of the provisions in the Bill are.