§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Prime Minister whether, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Melton on 10th November, he will state how many of the 59 extra non-industrial staff recruited by the Cabinet Office between 1st March 1974 and 1st July 1975:
- (a) formed part of the constitution unit and
- (b) helped to strengthen the Central Statistical Office.
§ The Prime Minister32 and 20 respectively.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Prime Minister whether he will specify the improvements in the quality and speed of preparation of Government statistics which have resulted from the recruitment of additional staff in the Cabinet Office.
§ The Prime MinisterThe main areas of improvement are (a) the reinforcement of computing facilities and programming support to speed up the provision of statistics in the general area of the national accounts and to improve the computing services for economic analysis and forecasting, and (b) the development of social statistics with particular regard to improving estimates and characteristics of income distribution.