§ Mr. David Priceasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the total number of different forms which his Department, and its subordinate agencies, have currently available for different purposes requiring completion by members of the general public; when the necessity for each such form was last reviewed; and whether he intends to reduce the number of such forms and to simplify their contents.
§ Mr. CarmichaelNo forms are issued by my Department which require information about individual members of the general public. In the latest 12 months for which figures are available my Department carried out 35 separate statistical inquiries and sent out about 780,000 statistical forms for firms to complete. In many of these inquiries a variety of different forms are used, partly because a simpler form is often sent to the smaller businesses and partly because the detailed headings on the forms vary according to 67W the industry or trade to which the business belongs. The various forms are kept continuously under review with a view to reducing the burden of form-filling wherever possible.