MPs yesterday passed The Statistics Act 2002, a bill giving the Chief Statistician new powers to collect information which should improve decision making by Government.

The bill, which makes it compulsory for businesses, community groups and individuals to provide information requested by the Statistics department was opposed by the Opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP) which argued that it was heavy handed and made it possible for Government to violate individuals' right to privacy.

Premier Jennifer Smith, in introducing the bill, said the majority of surveys collected in the past were voluntary but that had led to a low response rate.

The new law gives the Chief Statistician authority to conduct surveys in general with people bound by law to respond.

Up to $5,000 in fines could be levied against people who fail to provide required information or who provide false information.

The bill also protects confidentiality of the information and levies fines or a spell in prison for Statistics Department employees who breach the confidentiality requirements.

Businesses are not required under the bill to disclose trade secrets.

The overall objective, explained Government MPs, is to have a more integrated approach to the collection of statistics and improve the integrity of data collected to allow Government to make better quality decisions.

The bill requires the population census to take place every five years - instead of every ten - starting in 2010 and will be the governing act for the statistics department.

Ms Smith told her House colleagues that meetings with stakeholders had taken place and three minor amendments had been made in response.

And she said that the needs of small businesses had also been taken into account - the statistics department will provide assistance in extracting information required.

She stressed in her introduction, and in response to Opposition criticisms, that the bill simply brought Bermuda into line with other developed jurisdictions, including some of the Island's competitors.

But the UBP argued the bill was drafted without adequate consultation, was Draconian and threatened individual rights to privacy without providing avenues for individuals to contest surveys they thought were unnecessary.

The Chief Statistician was being given broad powers which included the right to intrude in people's personal lives, the Opposition argued. And it was suggested by the Opposition members that a low response rate to voluntary surveys was caused by a lack of trust in the current Government.

Government was being "hypocritical" in that it was making criminals out of people for not providing required information when it was not always forthcoming in delivering information to the public, said Alan Marshall.

"How can you expect trust from the people of this country to give you information when you on the other hand withhold information from them ?" Mr. Marshall asked. And they expressed concern about the danger of the information falling into the wrong hands once collected as well as the possibility of political interference in the functions of the Chief Statistician.

"I certainly don't want my personal records - whether it be medical records or whether it be business records available to Government without any protection. And I'm not talking about protection in terms of disclosure to people. I simply don't want my records down in the cabinet office and this bill very simply allows that to happen," said UBP Leader Grant Gibbons.

"I believe the phrase is Big Brother - or maybe in this case it's Big Sister."

Government dismissed Opposition concerns as "scaremongering" and an attempt to score media sound-bites.

"Other developed countries have long traditions of collecting data under just this kind of umbrella legislation," Premier Smith said.

The law enshrined within it the right to confidentiality, she said.

She added that information could not be viewed by politicians on an individual basis - except for the Employment Survey - and she outlined mechanisms already in place to keep individual data confidential.

"The purpose of this bill is to establish a structure for the collection, analysis and publication of data necessary for the Government of this country," said the Premier. "The Government has no interest in disadvantaging any individual, business or organisation by revealing private information. That is something made up in the fertile regions of the Opposition's mind."

She said the community as a whole will benefit from the law because the response rate would increase, improving reliability and accuracy of estimates and providing Government with a "sounder basis for decision making."

"The enhanced quality of the data will therefore permit the establishment of solid benchmarks which will reduce the frequency of reporting requirements of some classes of industry."

The Opposition stressed that they agreed that it was important to collect statistics.

At the end of the day long debate the matter was put to a vote which went strictly along party lines and was carried by the Government side 17 - 10.