§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the report on Information Requirements in Economic and Monetary Union, as agreed by Ecofin, with regard to its effects on the operation of statistical research in the United Kingdom; what effect the changes in Intrastat will have on the figures for imports and exports between the United Kingdom and the rest of the EU; and what the operational costs of the changes will be. [75057]
§ Ms HewittThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. David Maclean, dated 10 March 1999
In the absence of the Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question regarding the Report on Information Requirements in Economic and Monetary Union.The ONS welcomes the recommendations in the report, which are in line with the priorities and work programmes of the UK, other Member States and the Commission/Eurostat.The UK already produces quarterly national accounts, public finance statistics and most short-term statistics in line with the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) recommendations. Work is in hand to meet requirements for labour market statistics.Officials at HM Customs and Excise have provided the following information on the changes in Intrastat. The changes proposed for Instrastat would reduce the level of detail currently required on arrivals and dispatches between Member States participating in the euro-area. This would, in principle, allow the present Instrastat system to be simplified and other methods explored to arrive at a suitable output. It is not possible at this stage to say what impact such simplifications might have on the statistics of UK trade with the rest of Europe or what the cost of such changes would be. However, the proposed simplifications are intended to meet the needs of users of information at a European level—many other users, including the UK government and UK business, are likely to continue to need detailed UK trade data. The needs of these users, and of the providers of this data, will be fully taken into account when changes to Intrastat are discussed.The ONS has in place a system of announcing in advance the release of key statistical outputs. This is in line with the EFC recommendations.