Environmental and Social Costs

HC Deb 28 January 1997 vol 289 cc144-5W

Mr. Martyn Jones

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research he has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the development of a progress indicator to take account of the environmental and social costs of economic activity as an alternative to gross domestic product; and if he will make a statement on the desirability of developing such an alternative measure. [10539]

Mrs. Angela Knight

[holding answer 22 January 1997]: The Office for National Statistics has examined the genuine progress indicator, but does not regard it as a good indicator; it sees more value in the preparation of a broad range of indicators such as those in the Department of Environment's "Indicators of Sustainable Development for the United Kingdom", and environmental accounts of which a pilot was published in Economic Trends in August 1996.