§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to review the costs and problems borne by financial institutions in providing the wide range of statistical returns currently required of them by law.
54Wcountry of the United Kingdom, expressed as £ per head of the population. Figures for 1977–78 are not yet available.
The figures for each country are expressed at constant 1976–77 prices, using price deflators appropriate to all capital expenditure of United Kingdom nationalised industries, derived from the records of the public expenditure survey. They must be regarded as broad estimates only.
For comparability, the figures include the Northern Ireland electricity service. However, the extent to which expenditure can be identified varies between countries and different years. In particular, the figures for 1973–74 and earlier years exclude expenditure of the British Steel Corporation.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesThe Government need good statistical information for monetary policy purposes. Consistent with these needs, a close watch is kept on the burden imposed by statistical forms, and all those sent to financial institutions by Government Departments are vetted by the survey control unit in the Central Statistical Office. Relatively few of these are required by law.
The Bank of England is responsible for the collection of most statistics from banks and is very conscious of the costs borne by respondents in supplying this information.