§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what estimate she has made of the effect on data for Northern Ireland GDP of manufacturing company profit outflows; and what estimate she has made of the size of such outflows; [63973]
(2) what plans she has to provide provisional estimates of the main macro-sectoral aggregates in the intervals between the publication of regional accounts in order to facilitate planning by the public and private sector; [63976]
(3) if she will list the parties which have access to the data for Northern Ireland Regional Accounts on a confidential basis, before the data are published in Regional Trends; and on what criteria such parties are chosen; [63970]
(4) what plans she has to reformulate the Northern Ireland regional account in line with EUROSTAT standards; [63971]
(5) which Northern Ireland departments are responsible for the preparation of the Northern Ireland Regional Accounts; and what is the length of the period between the collection and completion of such accounts and their eventual publication by the National Statistics Office in Regional Trends. [63969]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyResponsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency under its chief executive, Mr. E. F. Jardine. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from E. F. Jardine to Mr. Kevin McNamara, dated 15 December 1998:
I am replying to your questions to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland about regional accounts as this matter falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.519WAnswers to the five questions you tabled are given in the Annex to this letter.Several of your questions mention the Regional Trends publication. Normally, the Office for National Statistics first publish the regional accounts in their monthly Economic Trends journal and in a news release. The information is then included in Regional Trends which is an annual publication.If I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the effect on data for Northern Ireland GDP of manufacturing company profit outflows; and what estimate she has made of the size of such outflows.Reply:
Gross Domestic Product is concerned with the physical location of economic activity and therefore its calculation is unaffected by profit outflows. No estimation has been made of the size of such outflows.Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans she has to provide provisional estimates of the main macro-sectoral aggregates in the intervals between the publication of regional accounts in order to facilitate planning by the public and private sector.Reply:
The Office for National Statistics, who compile the annual United Kingdom regional accounts, have no plans to provide interim figures.Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will list the parties which have access to the data for Northern Ireland Regional Accounts on a confidential basis, before the data is published in Regional Trends; and on what criteria such parties are chosen.Reply:
Regional accounts data are made available to all users at the same time by the Office for National Statistics, with limited exceptions on a strict need-to-know basis. These are: (1) government statisticians involved in the production and quality assurance of the estimates; and (2) Ministers and senior officials who are provided with copies of the articles containing the figures, no more than two days before publication in Economic Trends.Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans she has to reformulate the Northern Ireland regional account in line with EUROSTAT standards.Reply:
From January 1999, the Office for National Statistics intend to publish the United Kingdom regional accounts, including those for Northern Ireland, on the new European System of Accounts (1995) basis.Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which Northern Ireland departments are responsible for the preparation of the Northern Ireland Regional Accounts; and what is the length of period between the collection and completion of such accounts and their eventual publication by the National Statistics Office in Regional Trends.Reply:
The United Kingdom regional accounts are prepared and published centrally by the Office for National Statistics. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, which is an agency within the Department of Finance and Personnel, assists in the quality assurance assessment of the Northern Ireland portion of the accounts before they are published by the Office for National Statistics. There is no delay between the completion of the accounts and their publication in Economic Trends.