§ 21. Mr. Gordon Campbellasked the Minister of Public Building and Works what proposals he has for reducing the amount of statistical information required by his Department to he submitted by building contractors; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellishNone, Sir. The information collected by my Ministry is kept to the minimum and is barely adequate for the many purposes for which it is needed.
§ Mr. CampbellWhy is it that so many figures are required from the building industry, in some cases the same figures by three different Government Departments, as is made clear in Appendix 7 of the Estimates Committee's Report?
§ Mr. MellishI accept what the hon. Gentleman says, that there is duplication. The Government's statistical services are being more fully integrated so that such duplication is minimised, and the construction industry will share in this reorganisation.
§ Mr. EnglishWould not my right hon. Friend agree that the statistics produced by industry in general, including the building industry, are far fewer than those produced in many other advanced industrial nations, such as the United States of America?
§ Mr. MellishI would not know. I am not qualified to talk about the posi- 1228 tion in other countries. We get a lot of information from industry. I understand that there are fears that too much is being asked of them. I say to hon. Gentlemen opposite in particular, who continually press me for more information, that the only way to get it is to ask other people for it.
§ Mr. CostainDoes the right hon. Gentleman realise that industry will appreciate anything he does to cut down the amount of statistics required, particularly by co-ordinating them from other Government Departments? The more he asks for, the more inaccurate it gets.