5. The Official Statistics (Wales) Order 2017

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:03 pm on 21 November 2017.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 4:03, 21 November 2017

(Translated)

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to Steffan Lewis for those questions. To start with his third question—we have placed the ambulance trust and Velindre trust in the Order because they have pan-Wales responsibilities. The ambulance trust is a national body, and Velindre is responsible for the shared services sector that provides services pan-Wales. So, they prepare figures and data at that level. We haven’t included the health boards because they aren’t operating on the same level. But just to be clear, the Order isn’t the end of the road. It is a step forward. We have included more public bodies within the Order, and, of course, we are open to considering including more in future.

There is one point in relation to Steffan Lewis’s first point on local authorities. In Scotland and in England, they haven’t included local authorities in the kind of system that we are discussing today. We have included, for the first time, the local government data unit, which is responsible for gathering data from local authorities and publishing things at a national level. Therefore, that is a step forward. But we are open to having discussions with local authorities and to keep open the possibility of including them in a future Order.

Finally, Deputy Presiding Officer, if we could just turn to the point on the European Union.