§ Mr. Sheldonasked the Prime Minister when the new Business Statistics Office will be set up; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterThe new Office, which is being developed out of the existing Board of Trade Census Office, will come into being on 1st January, 1969. It will be staffed and run by the Board of Trade but will be directed by an interdepartmental committee under the chairmanship of the Director of the Central Statistical Office. Eventually, it will become the main agency for collecting and publishing industrial and commercial statistics. It will also be responsible for creating and maintaining a central register of businesses in order that the results of different enquiries may constitute an integrated system of business statistics. This will help to avoid duplication in the collection of information which sometimes results when enquiries are not directed to commonly agreed and defined industrial fields. Within the prevailing confidentiality restrictions the Office will provide a service to industry and trade and to the Government alike.
As part of the Government's policy of dispersal of offices from the London area, plans are being made for the Office, which initially will be situated at Eastcote in north-west London, to move to Newport, Monmouthshire, by 1972.