§ Mr. Hordernasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many forms are issued by his Department; how many people or organisations are invited to respond to each of them; if he will list the number of forms so issued; and what, briefly, is the general purpose of each.
§ Mr. Les HuckfieldThe number of statistical forms issued by my Department to firms engaged in industrial production in 1975 was 556,000. Full details were given to the hon. Member for Harrow, Central (Mr. Grant) on 5th April 1976.—[Vol. 909 c. 11.]—The purpose of the inquiries is to provide a wide range of information about economic developments for use by the Government and by industry and trade and by the public generally. The statistics provide the basis, for example, for the monthly Index of Industrial Production; the quarterly national income accounts; indices of wholesale prices; statistics of sales and orders; statistics of capital expenditure, investment intentions, stock changes, and so on.