§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) of 22 March,Official Report, column 210, if he will set out the reasons for the separate information on EC trade data not being available.
§ Mr. HeseltineSeparate information on volumes, unit values and terms of trade for United Kingdom trade with the EC is not available because of the unreliability of the price indices, or deflators, used in their calculation. These deflators are thought to be reliable overall but less so for trade with individual countries.
The quality of those concerning United Kingdom trade with the EC is also adversely affected by problems associated with the introduction of Intrastat, the system for collecting information on EC trade following the completion of the single market.