SOCIAL SURVEY (Hansard, 18 June 1968)

§ Q2. Mr. Kenneth Baker
asked the Prime Minister whether he will transfer responsibility for the Government's social survey from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Lord President of the Council.

§ The Prime Minister
No, Sir. The present arrangement has only been working for just over a year and it would be premature to consider a change now before the developments in the Government statistical services, foreshadowed in the Answer I gave on 2nd April to a Question by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Taunton (Mr. Du Cann) are more advanced.—[Vol. 762, c. 75–6.]

§ Mr. Baker
Is the Prime Minister aware that the 500 civil servants who work for the social survey have to report to the Chancellor of the Exchequer yet they do surveys for six other Government Departments? Is he further aware that as a result research projects are taking up to three years to complete? When will the Government give real priority to social research instead of merely paying lip-service to it?

§ The Prime Minister
We are carrying out the recommendations of the Hey-worth Committee, which studied the matter in great depth. It recommended that the social survey should be conducted for a number of Departments, for example. It would, therefore, not be appropriate for the survey to be attached to all these Departments and for the moment we are proceeding on the basis that it should be under the Treasury.

§ Mr. Sheldon
Since the Chancellor of the Exchequer raises £12,000 million and 909 the way in which he raises it is based at least in part on what he considers acceptable to the people, is it not time that techniques of survey and investigation were used more frequently to discover what is more readily acceptable?

§ The Prime Minister
I have no doubt that my hon. Friend and other hon. Members will be giving their advice to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer during the passage of the Finance Bill on what they think will be acceptable and workable, but that is no reason for transferring responsibility for the social survey from the Chancellor of the Exchequer.