Clause 36
Statistics and Registration Service Bill
9:00 am
Alun Michael (Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour)
I strongly support my hon. Friend’s argument and the provisions in the Bill for the protection of individual data. They are absolutely right, as is the strengthening of the sanctions, but will the Minister confirm that it would not be right for people looking at the sharing of data in the public interest or for statistical purposes to say, “Oh, I was scared by the sanctions, so I thought it was safest not to bother considering how to share that information. It was safer to say no.”? Their obligation will be to balance the pros and cons and to consider the public interest adequately. The balance needs to be there, and should be tough on both sides of the equation.