Clause 13
Statistics and Registration Service Bill
5:00 pm
John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
My hon. Friend is right. It would be undesirable and unacceptable for the transitional period to struggle on for a long time. I explained earlier that I want to move quickly as the legislation proceeds through Parliament and to appoint a chairman of the shadow board. With the good will of those who want the system to work, I expect and hope that the board will be up and running without undue delay. This will be one of its core functions and something to which I expect it to give its attention early on. In principle, he might have put his finger on a potential problem, but in practice I do not share his concerns. Clearly, a fixed and precise timetable is difficult to legislate for. It will depend on the board, which will in many ways determine the pace of progress.