Data and Statistics Bill

Members, we come now to Part 4, the debate on clauses 43 to 47, Official statistics. The question is that Part 4 stand part.

This part may not be the longest debate, but it’s actually probably one of the most important parts of the legislation, because Part 4 sets out the manner and nature of the production of official statistics. Ultimately, the collection of the data is the means to an end. The end is the production of information useful for decision making, and that’s laid out in Part 4.

Before I go on to talk about my proposed amendment to this bill as set out in Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) 198, I want to draw, I guess, another inconsistency to the committee, and that is, again, the Minister’s powers where he claims that the chief Statistician has this statutory independence, albeit at clause 44, in Part 4, the Minister has very strong powers to direct the Statistician, and, in this case, it’s on the production or the ceasing of production of statistics. The Minister may direct the Statistician to produce statistics. The Statistician must comply with that direction, and the Statistician must give public notice of any direction the Minister has given him. And so it, again, kind of undermines the Minister’s claim that the chief Statistician is so independent of the executive that he has the power, now, to postpone a census for 20 months but can’t produce data or would need to stop producing data at the Minister’s whim.

The concern I have—and I think, largely, Part 4 is in reasonably good shape—goes to the question of the reporting, the public disclosure of certain decisions that have been made about information that may have been provided or delegated, and the reporting requirements that are laid out in clauses 46, 53, 54, and 56. All of those clauses, essentially, say the Statistician must publish information about things like the persons to whom official statistics have been made available, what official statistics have been made available, and the purposes for which the official statistics have been made available, and any conditions imposed, but it’s all right; the Statistician can just do that in a summary form.

I worry about that term “summary form”. I think, actually, when we’re talking about the public disclosure of information that has been provided by New Zealanders for publication, that the public are actually entitled to know a bit more than just a summary of what the Statistician has done. So my SOP 198 actually removes the ability of the Government Statistician to publish the required information in summary form, and requires him to be a bit more fulsome with the New Zealand public about how, where, and to whom data has been provided.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to ask the Minister a question around clause 47. In respect of data that is collected under section 22(c)(i) for research, clause 47(2) states that that data that’s collected for research “must not be used for the purposes of the production of official statistics unless—(a) the Minister approves the use of the data for the production of official statistics;”.

I would be interested to know whether the Minister has an obligation to advise the individuals or organisations who are affected by that decision by the Minister to approve the use of the data—which has been collected for research then being used for official statistics—of the change of status of their data that has been collected from them for a specified purpose under the Act.

The Hon Michael Woodhouse’s amendments to Part 4 set out on Supplementary Order Paper 197 are out of order as being inconsistent with a previous decision of the committee.

The question is that the Hon Michael Woodhouse’s amendment to Part 4 set out on Supplementary Order Paper 198 be agreed to.

The question is that Debbie Ngarewa-Packer’s tabled amendment to Part 4 be agreed to.