§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for Trade how many staff and what resources in time and money are devoted by his Department to monitor trade patterns to and from the United Kingdom; and how this compares with other European Economic Community and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
§ Mr. ParkinsonThe regular compilation, analysis and interpretation of data relating to trade with other countries occupies the equivalent of 46 full-time staff at an annual cost of some £650,000 inclusive of overheads. The amount of staff effort devoted to the further examination of these data for purposes of monitoring trade patterns is indistinguishable from the total task of formulating trade policy. Information is not available to show the resources devoted to such monitoring by other EEC and OECD countries.