§ 69 and 70. Mr. Oakesasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will set up a departmental inquiry into the failure by his officials to obtain accurate figures of British exports during the past five years;
(2) why the inaccuracy in United Kingdom balance of trade returns due to the exclusion by some exporters of their returns for sterling area exports was not discovered for more than five years.
§ 76. Mr. Wyattasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement as to how the mistakes in the valuation of exports arose; for how long they have been continuing; whether he is satisfied that no other major mistakes in statistics are being made by his Department; and what are the corrected figures.
§ Mr. DellI have already had an inquiry carried out. The inaccuracy was caused by the failure of some exporters and export agents to declare exports to the Customs, who collect and compile statistics from these declarations. The error as a proportion of total exports is small and has developed over a period. The under-recording was difficult to establish, and only after an extensive and systematic inquiry could the error be estimated and made public. A comprehensive checking of declarations against manifests is being instituted, steps are being taken to obtain more complete compliance by exporters with the statutory requirements for documentation, and 279W consideration is being given to what else may usefully be done to ensure full recording.
I trust that official statistics are free from major errors. In many instances, however, their exactness depends upon the accuracy and completeness of information supplied by industry, and often it is impossible to make a cross check on its quality.
I am considering the possibility of publishing corrected figures.
§ 71. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the President of the Board of Trade to what extent there has been an underestimating of the value of British exports in the last few years; and what steps he is taking to ensure the provision of more accurate statistics.
§ Mr. DellI refer my hon. Friend to the note on page 1686 of the Board of Trade Journal of 18th June giving an account of the under-recording and explaining that a comprehensive checking of export declarations is to be instituted.
§ Mr. Oakesasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is satisfied with the accuracy of the returns made to him of British exports; and what machinery exists to check their authenticity.
§ Mr. DellThe compilation of the export trade figures has always been subject to numerous control procedures. In the light of the results of the recent investigation, however, checking is being intensified to eliminate under-recording as quickly as practicable.
§ Mr. Oakesasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will compile and set out in the OFFICIAL REPORT accurate quarterly figures of British exports for each of the last five years taking into account the non-inclusion of exports to the sterling area by many exporters during each of these years.
§ Mr. DellI would refer my hon. Friend to the Answer I gave to a Question by the hon. Member for Farnham (Mr. Maurice Macmillan) on Thursday, 19th June.—[Vol. 785, c. 149–50.]
§ Mr. Oakesasked the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received from the British Steel Corporation as to the accuracy of the balance 280W of payments export figures during the last five years; and what replies were given.
§ Mr. DellA number of queries relating to the recording of individual shipments have been received. These revealed a few instances of misrecording and a few others of omission from the export statistics. In addition some data were received which suggested that the total of steel exports might have been under-recorded. These representations were factors in the decision to carry out a systematic investigation of the documentation of export trade.
§ Mr. Oakesasked the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received from the chemical industry as to the accuracy of the balance of payments export figures during the last five years; and what replies he has given.
§ Mr. DellA small number of relatively minor queries about export statistics for specific commodities have been received from the chemical industry since 1966. Records of queries before 1966 are not available.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a statement on the recent official conclusion that the trade figures and balance of payments figures as published since 1964 have been incorrect; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the latest amended figures are accurate.
§ Mr. DellThere is little I can add to the note published on page 1686 of the Board of Trade Journal of 18th June, 1969. The Customs are instituting a comprehensive checking of export declarations against manifests, and steps are being taken to secure from exporters and agents the co-operation in securing complete recording which is legally owing.