§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether his Department has discontinued(a) the collection or (b) the publication of any statistics since 1979.
§ Mr. WakehamThe Department of Energy publishes energy statistics in "Energy Trends" each month, the "Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics" each year and the annual report on the "Development of the Oil and Gas Resources of the United Kingdom"—the Brown Book. These publications are regularly reviewed and their contents rationalised in response to the Government's requirements for statistical information and the changing nature of the energy industry. There have been a number of changes made to the statistics collected and published in these booklets since 1979. However, reductions in the collection and publication of statistical series have been relatively few. These have included a reduction in the statistics for coal industry operations and finance; a reduction in the statistics of town gas manufacture; the discontinuation of statistics on two star petrol prices; and the rationalisation of coal stocks data and some electricity data to avoid duplication. In many cases the information remains available from alternative sources.