§ 2.44 p.m.
§ Lord Ezra asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether they are satisfied that the recently announced changes in the responsibilities for the issue of official statistics will increase their reliability.
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, as my right honourable friend the Prime Minister made clear in another place on 5th April, the decisions resulting from the recent scrutiny report of Government economic statistics:
amount to a very substantial programme of work over the period ahead, designed to achieve a significant improvement in the quality and relevance of Government economic statistics."—[Official Report, House of Commons; 5/4/89, c. 191.]5 Those improvements will begin to flow as the many recommendations, including the creation of an enlarged Central Statistical Office as an executive agency responsible to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, are implemented. But it will take time.
§ Lord EzraMy Lords, while we must all be pleased that the CSO's responsibilities will be enlarged and will cover all statistics, is the noble Lord aware that there is serious concern that that body will come under the control of the Treasury? As he may be aware, the Treasury is no longer regarded as thoroughly objective in its use and treatment of statistics. Would it not have been far better if the body had been put under the control of some central office, such as the Cabinet Office, so that we could be assured of its total objectivity?
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, the integrity of the CSO is in no way altered by the changes in ministerial responsibilities. Their sole purpose is to assist in improving the quality of statistics for macroeconomic management following the recommendations of the Cabinet Office scrutiny report.
§ Lord PestonMy Lords, while also welcoming what I understand to be the noble Lord's statement that more resources will go into that work, may we have some assurance that the quality of statistics will improve and—to pursue the point raised by the noble Lord—that the Treasury will not tamper with them? Perhaps I may suggest some examples to which the noble Lord may wish to refer: may we in due course look forward to the day when our unemployment statistics measure unemployment; when our income and output statistics equal the same number, as they are supposed to do, rather than differ; and when our balance of payments statistics do not seem to contain a larger error than the balance of payments figure in the first place? In other words, when may we look forward to some useful statistics?
§ Lord Brabazon of TaraMy Lords, the answer to all the questions is the same; namely, that, obviously, the whole purpose of the exercise is to improve the quality of statistics that are produced.