§ As amended, considered.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read the Third time."
§ 9.59 p.m.
§ Mr. Pethick-LawrenceI am sure that the right hon. Gentleman the Minister of Health, who is responsible for this Bill, must be rather glad that the storm which passed over him earlier in the day has somewhat subsided during the latter part of our sitting. As far as this Measure is concerned, the storm which took place on its earlier stages has removed a good many of the landmarks which were present before the rising of the storm. I intervene on this occasion for the purpose of putting one point to the Minister, a point which I raised on the Committee 2205 stage. The House will remember that the Bill is designed to elicit certain information at the time for registering births or deaths which has not hitherto been available when those registrations were effected. The Minister has accepted the opinion of the House that this information should be jealously guarded from the point of view of its confidential character.
The point which I put to the Minister in Committee, and which I now put to him again, is whether the registration officer should be compelled to announce to the person registering the birth or death that the information will be confidential. The Minister has been good enough during the time which has elapsed between the Committee stage and now to look into this matter and to consult me in regard to it. In view of what he told me, I decided not to move any Amendment on the Report stage, but I hope that to-night he will be able to give us the assurance that, although he has not changed the Bill and put in the provision which I asked him to insert, he is taking other steps, possibly better ones, to achieve the purpose which I have in mind.
§ 10.2 p.m.
§ Mr. LewisAs one of those who opposed the Bill on Second Reading and had some criticism to offer on the Committee stage, I would like, now that we are parting with the Bill, to pay a tribute to the Minister of Health for what he has done. In the Debates on the Bill, he has shown himself very willing to listen to criticism and in so far as the criticism could be shown to be well-founded, to contrive to meet it. I think that if at other times Ministers would show themselves equally willing to encourage other Members of the House to assist in passing legislation, many of the Bills which leave the House would leave it in much better shape than they do at the present time.
§ 10.3 p.m.
§ Mr. Kingsley GriffithAs I believe I was one of the first people to oppose the Bill, I would not like it to be given a Third Reading without uttering a parting word. The Bill started in a rather reckless and extravagant form, but later in life it assumed such a respectable appearance that I feel we should give it the tribute of some kind of fatted calf before it finally goes to another place. As the Bill originally was, there were 2206 many things in it to which many hon. Members objected, but at the same time I think we all knew there was a genuine object behind it with which we all sympathised, realising that the problem of the future population of this country was one which we needed to consider. The only objection raised in the House was that originally a great many of the questions that were to be asked were unnecessary and might be oppressive. That is a matter which we do not need to consider now, for the Minister has met us in a generous way. I hope that the Bill in its final form will avoid all the objections that were put forward on Second Reading and will fulfil the very genuine objects which the Minister and his advisers had in mind when the Bill was brought forward. I hope that in its present form it will be of genuine assistance in solving one of the most difficult problems of modern times.
§ 10.5 p.m.
§ Sir K. WoodI am indebted to the hon. Members who have spoken for their observations on the Bill. I do not regret my association with it and I think, as time goes on, the action which the Government have taken in this matter will be more and more justified. I recall that the first census Bill introduced into this House many years ago was rejected by a very large majority, but after some years, fresh proposals were introduced and the census method of obtaining information was eventually accepted by the people of this country and indeed almost throughout the world. I understand that there may be people who take points of objection here and there as to the exact questions which may be asked and I do not resent any of the criticisms that have been made. I understand the feeling of hon. Members who naturally desire to protect the liberty of the individual and to prevent unnecessary and vexatious questions being put to people. I hope that hon. Members on their part appreciate my position. Although I am sometimes accused of introducing Measures with a view to appealing to public opinion, there is nothing of that kind in this Bill. When I undertook this Measure it was solely on the merits that I did so. I think I can claim that credit for myself. I hope that the Measure will be of increasing value not only in connection with the obtaining of information regarding the future population, but also with regard 2207 to matters with which I am particularly concerned, namely, social administration and new social proposals, its relation to which is very often forgotten.
I appreciate the point made by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for East Edinburgh (Mr. Pethick-Lawrence) and I undertake that the Regulations to be made under the Bill shall lay the duty on the registrar of putting before the informant, in the first place a printed form containing a prominent notice stating that the particulars required will not be entered upon the register. I will also take the necessary step to see that the informants are notified by the registrar that the information given under this Measure will be treated in the strictest confidence and used by the Registrar-General alone for statistical purposes only. I propose further that the form itself shall be prescribed by and form part of the Regulations and before I approve the Regulations I shall be glad to show them to hon. Getlemen who are interested in this matter and whose full co-operation I hope to obtain. I thank the House for having seen this Bill so far on its way to the Statute Book, and I hope that it will prove to be a useful piece of legislation.
§ Mr. Pethick-LawrenceMay I be allowed to thank the right hon. Gentleman for what he has said concerning the particular point raised by me?