Speeches by Simons.

“Just to underscore, I obviously can’t speak to the historic question about advice that went to Ministers, but I have a direct relationship with Penny Young that I established myself. I have a direct line of contact to her, and intend to maintain that. If she or any future chair that we appoint has any concerns about an…”

“It is worth underscoring that the 2020 memorandum of understanding, the last public document that I know of setting out the relationship between the Cabinet Office and that governance structure is going to be updated. The goal is to publish an updated framework agreement by the end of the year, so there is thinking goi…”

“I would agree with much of that. The bottom line is that there is much further to go. One of the things people forget about data is that there are not just nice numbers on spreadsheets, and if only we could combine the spreadsheets everything would be fine—we would be sharing data. Often what happens when you get a num…”

“To underscore, on your previous question, there is a fundamental conceptual distinction here, which the past six months have brought to the surface: the UK Statistics Authority and the ONS are Government departments—non-ministerial departments with employees who are civil servants. The civil service code is clear that …”

“He is smiling—it is fine. To ennoble the work that the ONS does, it is important for elected Ministers to pay respect to that work, to underscore how important it is, to talk about it, and to talk it up. There is now an important series of rhythmic meetings in place. There is a quarterly sponsorship meeting between the…”

“Absolutely. Noted.”

“I will add on to the energy point and then address directly the question on geography and Newport. To the extent that I can help with the energy issue, I will and am. I intend to visit the ONS in person as a Minister in the coming months.”

“Thank you for the plug, Chair. That was not what I was going for, but I appreciate it none the less. It is unbelievably important that a democracy can see in order to make good decisions, and one of the great advantages of democracies is that they are good at surfacing difficult information to those who are elected to …”

“It is probably worth saying where I come from in addressing this as the new Minister. My background before being elected was in data and statistics, and I wrote a book about how democracy should think about data.”

“I think I have been clear about the principle; Ministers account to Parliament for responses to Ministerial questions. It is their job to decide what is and is not included in a response. If the Cabinet Office, in addition to some data provided by the ONS, thinks it appropriate and advises the Minister to include a fra…”

“If I inadvertently implied the horrific scenario you have just outlined, it is definitely not what I meant at all.”

“It was certainly not what I intended to say—if it is, as you say, what I said. When a Minister receives a written parliamentary question that specifically refers to such data, it absolutely should be the expectation that they would provide that data.”

“Yes, if that is what the written question asked for. If the Minister judges that further context in addition to that data is helpful, they should be well within their rights to provide that. Of course, they should provide the data that they have been asked for.”

“You seem to have driven again at alternative statistics, which is not a phrase I have used, and it is certainly not what I think Ministers should be doing. They should provide the statistics that have been asked for and, as I have said a few times, if they judge that additional context about what those statistics mean …”

“Sorry; what is the question?”

“If I have not been clear enough on that point, Chair, let me be very clear. I thought I said this five minutes ago: if the question mentions the source of the data that they are requesting—in this case, the ONS—the Minister would be expected to reply with data from that source. If the Minister then judged that further …”

“Yes, that is my primary concern too. One of the thoughts I had when Peter was asking questions about the broader issue was that the labour market survey is fundamental to so many users—the Treasury, but a bunch of others too—so it is utterly vital for our country that it is improved and that they have the assurances th…”

“If I gave that impression, then I was not speaking accurately. Narrative is not a word I would use to describe what Ministers can add to written parliamentary questions. The fundamental point—I have said it, but I will underscore it—is that if a written parliamentary question requests ONS data, then the answer to that …”

“I have had far worse, Chair, so not to worry about it.”

“The Minister could request data that they deem to be a legitimate answer to the parliamentary question from anywhere. That is up to the Minister to decide.”