§ Mr. Powellasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether there is statutory authority for including a demand for the VAT registration numbers in the annual census of employment forms; what is the purpose of this demand; and whether he will review this practice.
§ Mr. GoldingThe censuses of employment in Great Britain are conducted under the provisions of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947. The schedule to that Act lists the matters about which persons may be required to provide information. One of these matters is taxes, other than taxes on profits. VAT is such a tax, and it is, therefore, admissible to ask for information about VAT registrations.
My Department requires the VAT registration numbers to help obtain the highest degree of comparability possible between the census of employment and other related Government inquiries. The VAT registration numbers are a great help in checking the coverage of the aggregates produced by the various inquiries. I am thus satisfied that a useful purpose is served by obtaining them 88W on the census forms and propose to continue this practice.