§ Mr. MacCormickasked the Secretary of State for Industry to what extent the recommendations contained in paragraph 15.29 and 15.32 of the Bolton Report have been implemented.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieArrangements have been made for existing and proposed forms and statistical surveys to be reviewed to ensure that they are necessary and suitable having regard to the demands which they make in terms of time and effort on respondents. This is an ongoing process, and all proposed new statistical surveys intended for more than 10 respondents are considered by the Central Statistical Office.
It has not been found practicable to assess the total cost of form filling to industry nor, in the interests of confidentiality, is it considered appropriate to create a central data bank. The 1973 Finance Act did, however, provide for value added tax data to be made available to the Business Statistics Office as a means of reducing the need to include small firms in statistical surveys.