§ Mr. WinnickTo ask the Prime Minister if he will direct the Secretary of State for Employment to discontinue replying to hon. Members' questions over regional unemployment by referring them to the NOMIS data base in the Library; and if he will make it his policy that the information requested should be published in theOfficial Report.
§ The Prime MinisterI endorse the procedure followed by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Employment, which is to refer hon. Members to NOMIS when more than 10 figures are asked for. The introduction of this procedure was announced, in answer to a parliamentary question, by the then Secretary of State for Employment, on 19 October 1990. This was done only after extensive consultation with both sides of the House and with the then Speaker. The procedure does not result in withholding information and does not deny hon. Members the opportunity of asking questions about unemployment or other labour market issues. NOMIS is a public data base, which can be accessed through a terminal in the House of Commons Library. It provides an open and an efficient way of publishing statistics, which 1 welcome under the citizens charter. TheOfficial Report has never been a statistical digest.