§ Mr. Baldryasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is able to make a statement about the review of the basis of the Ordnance Survey trading accounts.
§ Mr. WaldegraveIn January of this year my right hon. Friend, acting on the advice of the Ordnance Survey Advisory Board, announced that the annual trading accounts for the Ordnance Survey, including statements on revenue and expenditure by main product groups, would be published, and that the basis of these accounts would be independently reviewed by commercial auditors to ensure that there is no cross subsidisation of Ordnance Survey's commercial activities from its Exchequer Vote.
Tenders have been received from for firms from this review. The contract has been awarded to Peat Marwick Mitchell and Company. Its detailed study will take some weeks, and it proposes to report in September.
The intention is that publication of Ordnance Survey trading accounts will commence with the financial year 1984–85.