§ 2.40 p.m.
§ LORD BROWNMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
[The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in view of the statement by the European Community's Statistical Office 305 that the gross value added at factor cost per person employed was (in United States dollars):—
whether Her Majesty's Government accept these figures as a reasonably accurate indication of the relative productivity of persons employed in the three countries in those years.]
1962 1968 France 3.800 6.100 Germany 3.100 4.800 United Kingdom 2.700 3.400;
THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (EARL JELLICOE)No, my Lords. International comparisons such as these present considerable conceptual and statistical difficulties, and a great deal of work is required to produce valid results. As is stated in the publication from which they are drawn, the figures are subject to a number of qualifications and it is not possible to estimate their precise accuracy.
§ LORD BROWNMy Lords, I am grateful for that Answer by the noble Earl, and particularly for the "No" with which it started. I do not want to put the noble Earl into difficulties and I know this is a difficult subject, but I have a number of supplementary questions I should like to put to him. I am not expecting precise answers this afternoon: my purpose in asking them is to make people more aware of the danger of the situation. Is the noble Earl aware that the figures I have quoted indicate that the added value per head in France, quoted as an output figure, is 80 per cent. ahead of the output of the British working population? Is he aware that these figures are being used as accurate indicators of relevant industrial efficiency by the European Movement? Does the noble Earl feel that it is proper to support a good cause with false figures? Is the noble Earl aware that added value is a statement of input of resources rather than output?
§ SEVERAL NOBLE LORDS: Order!
§ LORD BROWNFinally, my Lords, will the noble Earl cause the Government to take up with the Statistical Office of the European Community the basis of these figures?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, the noble Lord very kindly prefaced his rather long supplementary question by saying that he did not wish to put me in a difficulty. He has, because in order to give him an answer I really have to make a speech. But I would say in reply to him that on his first point my information is that as far as productivity per person is concerned in the three countries which are covered in his Question, our best estimate is that between 1962 and 1968 it increased by about 35 per cent. in France and in Germany, compared with about 27 per cent. in this country. I have already indicated that I do not hold these figures to be entirely accurate. It is extraordinarily difficult to make accurate comparisons of this sort, but I really must allow the European Movement to speak for itself and to present its own figures on matters of this sort.
§ LORD BROWNMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Earl.