Mrs. René;e Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the cutbacks that have been made in his Department's collection of statistics since May 1979; and whether further cuts are now being proposed.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinA list of the DHSS statistics which were stopped or reduced in scope between May 1979 and October 1980 was given in my reply to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) on 27 October 1980—[Vol. 991 c.187–89.]. Further reductions have been or will be made after our considerations of the report of the DHSS study team which carried out investigations under the guidance of Sir Derek Rayner as part of the review of the Government statistical services. Their report was published on 6 March. A statement of our decisions on each of the recommendations in the study team report was published on 29 April, at the same time as the White Paper, Cmnd. 8236, on the Government statistical services, which makes it clear that implementation of a number of recommendations will be subject to consultation. Copies of these documents are in the Library of the House.