§ Mr. Allasonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services on what grounds he stated that the cost of the General 258W Household Survey is not higher than would have been incurred by a commercial market research organisation; and if he will publish relevant information including that listed in the Market Research Society's Standards, a copy of which is in his possession, particularly description of universe, size and nature of sample, planned as well as achieved, geographical distribution, and questionnaire.
§ Sir K. JosephA detailed statement of the design of the sample for the General Household Survey and the response rate as well as a description of the content of the survey is about to appear in the next issue of Statistical News and I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of this and of the questionnaire.
The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, which is responsible for conducting the survey, employs market research organisations for a number of purposes. This allows the Office to compare the costs and performance of these agencies with its own. It is, therefore, possible to say that, bearing in mind the terms of reference and the conditions necessary to obtain satisfactory results on this survey, there is no reason to think that the costs are any higher than any other survey organisation would incur.