§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's policy is toward the draft European regulation to recognise and adopt the current NUTS structure. [48266]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 10 April 2002:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on Government policy towards the draft European regulation to recognise and adopt the current NUTS structure. (48266)During the discussion of the regulation in the Council Working Group, the UK has supported the principle of the regulation, that common definitions must apply if statistics are to be comparable across the Community. However, the UK view has been that the initial draft would benefit from changes. The three principal concerns raised by the UK have been: (i) either that NUTS should provide a breakdown of the whole of the European Union rather than just the economic territory of the Member States, or that it should be clear to users that it does not (ii) that no changes should be imposed by the Commission, and (iii) that the regulation should cover all existing five NUTS levels, not just levels 1, 2 and 3. Council discussions are still underway to resolve the concerns of the UK and other member states. A revised version of the regulation, which seeks to address member states' concerns, will be discussed at a Council Working Group meeting on 16 April 2002 in Brussels.UK support for the regulation will be considered on the basis of changes emerging from consideration by the European Parliament and the Council.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations were received from organisations in the Isle of Wight and Hampshire concerning the consultation on proposals by the Government Statistical Service Committee for Regional Statistics on NUTS area definitions. [48265]
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§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Andrew Turner, dated 10 April 2002.
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on representations from organisations in the Isle of Wight and Hampshire concerning the Government Statistical Service Regional Statistics Committee consultation on NUTS area definitions. (48265)The consultation document was issued in July 1996, and about 120 responses were received by the deadline of September 1996. The organisations based in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight that made representations were the Isle of Wight Council, Wight Training and Enterprise, Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council. Comments relating to the Isle of Wight and Hampshire were also made by Government Office for the South East and the Association of District Councils.There was general support for the proposal to make Hampshire and the Isle of Wight separate NUTS2 areas, as opposed to the existing situation of the two areas being a single NUTS2 area. However, one organisation commented that there was no logical reason for such a split. The other main points made by these organisations related to (a) changing the NUTS1 structure for England from Standard Statistical Regions to Government Office Regions-some supporting and some opposing the proposal; and (b) a general welcome for the greater availability of data at the new smaller NUTS3 and NUTS4 levels that the new classification should enable.