Another Uppal own goal

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about a Very Boring Issue. Paul Uppal MP seems to believe that the BBC and the UK Statistics Agency (headed by Sir Michael Scholar, whom Boris Johnson called 'a Labour stooge') are in some kind of conspiracy against the government.

Uppal's popped up in Parliament once more to push this theme - implying that the UKSA illegally put pressure on the Housing Minister to improve his statistics after the BBC did some digging.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2012, Official Report, column 56W, on Homes and Communities Agency: statistics,
(1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the UK Statistics Authority guidance on communicating notifications under section 16 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and any guidance on the practice of pre-releasing notifications;
(2) on what date the Board of the UK Statistics Authority took the decision under section 16 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 to write to the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government and to make a notification; and whether that decision was made at a formal meeting of the Board.

Poor man. The minister's reply not only stresses that the legal processes were followed, but he's forced to admit that the Housing Minister has failed to respond, a breach of his duties!

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Sir Michael Scholar KCB, dated March 2012
As Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your questions asking (i) for a copy of the UK Statistics Authority guidance on communicating notifications under section 16 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and any guidance on the practice of pre-releasing notifications
and (ii) on what date the Board of the UK Statistics Authority took the decision under section 16 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 to write to the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government and to make a notification; and if that decision was made at a formal meeting of the Board
Section 16 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 sets out the requirements placed on the UK Statistics Authority (referred to as the 'Statistics Board' in the Act) in respect of the process for making notifications under that section. The Statistics Authority complies with these requirements in all cases, The Statistics Authority ensures that all notifications under this section are laid before Parliament as the Act requires. Once the notification has been laid, a copy is placed on the Authority's website. The Authority's notification to the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government in respect of statistics produced by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Tenant Services Authority was sent to the Minister on 6 December 2011, laid before the House on 7 December 2011, and published on the Authority's website on 8 December 2011.
As Chair of the UK Statistics Authority I took the decision, following discussions within the Authority, to make a notification to the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government under section 16 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 in respect of statistics produced by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Tenant Services Authority. This was reported to the Authority Board at its meeting on 16 December 2011.
Under section 16 of the Act, the Minister, as the appropriate authority, is required to provide the Statistics Authority with a statement as to whether he intends to make a request for such an assessment. No reply has yet been received.

I'm sorry to waste your time with such tedious stuff, but it is instructive. It shows that Uppal has absolutely no interest in good governance or reliable statistics. Instead, politics to him is a war of attrition between his party and the rest of the world. Everyone's against him, whoever they are. He has no intellectual ability to understand that Scholar (who was a thorn in the side of the Labour government too) has a serious job to do, one that benefits the public. To Uppal, anyone who halts the juggernaut of total Tory domination is the enemy. It's genuinely worrying and pitiful that such small-minded, mean-spirited people get elected. Still, in this case, little Uppal's made to look foolish again.