§ 18. Mr. Roy Jenkinsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide quarterly figures for investment, along the lines of those already provided for consumption.
§ Mr. MaudlingDetails are given in the Monthly Digest of Statistics of the production for the home market of a large range of investment goods and of the output of the building industry. But the full information necessary for a reliable quarterly estimate of investment is not available. The available statistics relate to production, not to capital expenditure, and may not therefore be a good guide to short-period changes in capital expenditure.
§ Mr. JenkinsWould the hon. Gentleman not agree that, as quarterly figures are provided for consumption, apparently without great difficulty, and that investment is in some ways a parallel and vital subject, it would be most helpful if we could follow those figures each quarter?
§ Mr. MaudlingThe Oxford Institute of Statistics, in their Bulletin, provide a quarterly estimate, but that is subject to a certain margin of error and we feel that the information available is not sufficiently accurate to justify the use of official estimates on this point.