Alun Michael (Cardiff South & Penarth, Labour)

On amendments Nos. 198 and 199, there is a point of principle about sharing data to provide a public benefit. On occasions, there have been problems with sharing data. Lazy bureaucrats, aided and abetted by lazy data protection advisers and lazy legal advisers, far too often respond to the possibility  of sharing information with others by acting as if it were safer not to share data. They often claim that they are doing so on so-called data protection grounds, but that is wrong. They ought to follow best practice in data management, which involves balancing the benefits to sharing data with the disbenefits. I am pleased that the amendment is supported by the Association of Regional Observatories and others.

Amendment No. 199 is intended to tease out what I believe to be the intention of the drafting—that is, to ensure that access to statistics is as easy and quick as possible for those who will use them for practical purposes, such as to inform service delivery, develop local policies or analyse the needs of groups in society or local communities. That is what makes it essential for researchers in local government and in non-governmental organisations or charities to have quick and easy access, provided that they meet the criteria set out in the Bill.

Access must not be restricted to statisticians and researchers in universities when such access is vital for those who work for the betterment of the lives of those who are represented in the figures, through local authorities, charities, NGOs and other agencies. I hope that my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary will not only agree with me about that, but confirm that what I am saying is the correct legal interpretation of the clause. It is important for those people to have access to the statistics with the minimum of bureaucracy.

I learned of an excellent example of the value of that only today, in discussing housing complaints with representatives of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, although I did not know that it would illuminate this debate as effectively as I hope it will. Nowadays, 70 per cent. of citizens advice bureaux record their cases electronically, on a system called Case. They can quickly analyse cases by age, ethnicity, household size or income level, as well as the nature of the complaints that lead people to seek advice. Citizens advice bureaux have some 5.2 million client interfaces each year, whether on the telephone or in interviews, so the system is of significance. To meet their second aim of informing public policy, it is vital to overlie those client statistics on official statistics, to provide an accurate framework for comparison and analysis. The example of housing is an excellent one, but similar examples can also be found that inform the work of people at the local authority level in improving the quality of life for our people.

Some academics work with policy makers to improve the quality of local life. I have referred to some of them. They include Professor John Shepherd of Birkbeck college and his work on rural statistics; Professor Jonathan Shepherd at the University Hospital in Wales, whose work on reducing violence was seminal; and Professor Howard Williams, who analysed local data in the Ely area of the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, West (Kevin Brennan).

I also acknowledge the fact that people working in the Office for National Statistics, Ministers and Treasury officials have shown real commitment to enabling us to drill down to the most local level of analysis. I hope that the Minister will assure me on both points: that that is the Government’s intention and that the capacity to use information properly to  improve people’s quality of life, which will be the focus of the board’s activities, is what the Bill is intended to bring about.

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