Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 1: the Statistics Board Section 46 Information sharing: supplementary amendments and Schedule 2
187.Section 46 makes supplementary amendments to existing legislation to allow information flows to continue to the Board, as the legal successor body to ONS.
188.Paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 removes the offence of unlawful disclosure of personal census information in section 8 of the Census Act 1920, for England and Wales. The confidentiality obligation in section 39 of this Act will apply to census information held by the Board.
189.Paragraph 2 amends the Population (Statistics) Act 1938 (restriction on disclosure) to ensure that it is clear that section 42 overrides the restrictions on disclosure by the Registrar General of information collected under this legislation.
190.Paragraph 3 updates section 58 of the Finance Act 1969 by replacing references to the ‘ONS’ and ‘Office’ in that provision with references to the ‘Statistics Board’ and ‘Board’ where required. This amendment will allow HMRC to continue to disclose to the Board (as it did to ONS prior to this Act) PAYE information, specifically business name, address, economic activity code, legal form and size (in terms of numbers of employees). ONS used PAYE information to update and maintain a register of businesses – the inter-departmental business register (IDBR). The purpose of this register is to provide government with an adequate sampling frame for surveys, on which almost all surveys of economic activity are based.
191.Paragraph 4 inserts a reference to the Board and an ‘approved researcher’ in section 3 of the Agricultural Statistics Act 1979. The ONS received information collected by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) under section 1 of this Act; this amendment is necessary to ensure that DEFRA may continue to disclose information to the Statistics Board. The amendment also permits the Board to disclose the information to an approved researcher (see note to section 39above). Information collected under this Act is also used to maintain the IDBR.
192.Paragraph 5 updates section 122AA of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 by replacing a reference to ‘ONS’ with a reference to the ‘Statistics Board’. Formerly, HMRC could disclose to the ONS contributions information, which includes statutory sick pay, maternity pay and paternity pay. This paragraph ensures that HMRC can continue to disclose this information to the Board.
193.Paragraph 6 similarly updates section 91 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, by replacing references to the ‘ONS’ and ‘Office’ in that provision with references to the ‘Statistics Board’ and ‘Board’ where required. This ensures that HMRC may continue to disclose VAT information to the Board, which is necessary because VAT information is used to update and maintain the IDBR.
194.Paragraph 7 updates Schedule 7 of the Bank of England Act 1998. The Schedule previously contained a reference to the ONS, which this paragraph replaces with a reference to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (or any person to whom any functions of the Chancellor of the Exchequer under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 are delegated). This permits the Bank of England to disclose information to the Statistics Board where it exercises the functions of the Chancellor under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947.