§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will list any additions 238W to the collection, presentation or publication of statistics which his Department has made since May 1979.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe five yearly compulsory inquiry into manufacturers' purchases was held in January 1980. It was addressed to 16,200 firms, none of which employed fewer than 50 persons.
Some 2,000 large companies contributing voluntarily to the annual overseas transactions inquiries have been asked to provide additional information on their overseas borrowing and lending and certain other transactions. An additional 240 companies have also agreed to provide this information. This will replace some of the information lost from the abolition of exchange control.
A one-off voluntary inquiry addressed to 450 large engineering firms asking for information about the timing and price aspects of their sales and orders will be held next month.