§ Mr. Norman Lamontasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make alterations in the amount of information that is made available to Parliament about the economy before he announces his Budget measures.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 4th February 1976, Vol. 904], gave the following information:
I have decided not to publish the White Paper "Preliminary Estimates of National Income and Balance of Payments", which is normally laid before Parliament around the time of the spring Budget. The principal series in the White Paper are now readily available in the standard statistical sources. The Central Statistical Office is also making arrangements to enhance the content of its regular quarterly statistical Press notices in the period before the Budget in order to ensure that the full range of latest information on the economy is available to Parliament. The use of Press notices will enable this to be done in the quickest way possible. Furthermore, my right hon. Friend announced in the debate on the Address on 25th November last that details of the cash limits would be published around the beginning of the financial year; but with these two exceptions 719W I intend no changes in the usual arrangements for publishing information related to the Budget.