§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether his replies on statistical information now require hon. Members to calculate percentages from published figures; and, if so, when this change of policy occurred.
§ Mr. ParkinsonThe established policy of my department in dealing with requests for statistical information is to refer Members to sources when the data can be obtained by simple arithmetical operations from accessible documents. It was decided last year that, provided undue work was not entailed, these arithmetical operations should include multiplication and division.