§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, in respect of the statistics kept and published by his Department, he will publish in the Official Report any changes since 1979 in (a) the statistical series which are published, including those which have been introduced and those which have been dropped; (b) the basis on which any elements in the statistics are estimated, calculated or presented; (c) the periods over which, and the dates on which the series are collected or published; and (d) any other respects in the ways in which statistics are collected, recorded, presented, evaluated or published; and if he will explain the reasons for any such changes.
§ Mrs. Rumbold[pursuant to her reply, 3 December 1986, c. 626]: Only minor changes have been made since 1979 to 842W the regular annual statistics collected by the Department. The statistics of first destinations of students from public sector institutions have had their coverage extended and have been collected on an individual basis in place of the former college summaries and those collected through the teacher destination survey. The annual monitoring survey of students and staffing ratios in further education has also increased its coverage in the last few years. Surveys of PICKUP courses have been introduced, while surveys of maintained youth clubs in adult education have been dropped. Information collected on overseas students has been incorporated in the "Further Education Statistical Record". The summary information published in statistical bulletins has been expanded, and the statistical volumes have been redesigned and their production costs reduced.
These changes in the basis of compilation, presentation and publication of statistical series have been made from time to time in response to the Government's requirements for statistical information, changes in the administrative systems on which some series are based, the development of new statistical techniques and technological developments affecting the compilation and dissemination of statistical data.
When such changes are made they are fully documented in the relevant statistical publications.