§ 26. Mr. G. Longdenasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware of the amount of time, money and executive ability which has to be consumed upon compiling the Census of Production; and, in view of the fact that the results of the census are not sufficiently necessary, accurate and up-to-date to compensate for the deflection of such effort from productivity, if he will discontinue this census.
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§ Mr. H. StraussCensuses of production, which have been taken in this country since 1907, provide information valuable to Government and industry. The information is kept up to date by the annual census which the Statistics of Trade Act, 1947, requires and the results are published as early as possible. In order to reduce statistical work to the minimum required to meet essential needs, the censuses for the years 1952 and 1953 will be based on sampling methods, as a result of which a large proportion of the smaller and medium-sized establishments will not have to make returns.