§ Q3. Mr. Marquandasked the Prime Minister whether he will implement the recommendations contained in paragraphs 106 and 107 of the Fourth Report of the Estimates Committee on Government Statistical Services relating to the possibility of upgrading the post of Director of the Central Statistical Office and to the position of the Central Statistical Office in the Government machine.
§ The Prime MinisterI have as yet nothing to add to the Answer I gave on 20th January to Questions by my hon. Friend the Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell).—[Vol. 739, c. 156.]
§ Mr. MarquandWith apologies for asking a somewhat anticlimactic question, may I ask whether my right hon. Friend is aware that the Estimates Committee's Report shows that at the moment the needs of the Departments which use 769 statistics are not properly taken into account by the Departments which collect them and that this is why this point about the C.S.O. is so important? Will he, therefore, give an assurance that, when a Government statement is made on this matter, this point will be covered in it?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. There will be a reply from the Treasury to the Estimates Committee in the normal way in the near future. We are considering this very urgently. I do not think that the main question is the position of the C.S.O. I think that the main problem is how far it will be possible to get the additional figures which ire required for economic purposes and for the purposes of the House, as well as of the Government, without adding unduly to the burden on the firms concerned. If we can do something to rationalise the collection of some of these statistics and lessen the burden, that will be a very useful by-product of this exercise.