§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will take steps to replace measurements of gross domestic product and gross national product, both within the United Kingdom and in international bodies, with measurements that are being developed by the Office for National Statistics which are able to take into account 145WA economically significant unpaid and unrecorded work and the reduction through consumption or otherwise of irreplaceable natural resources. [HL3412]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyGDP and GNP are internationally agreed and widely used measures of national output. The Office for National Statistics is developing accounts in areas which are conceptually related to GDP and GNP. The ONS work is further advanced than that of many other statistical bodies: a report on UK Environmental Accounts was published in May 1998, although household accounts are still at a developmental stage. In addition, the Government will shortly publish their proposals for Indicators of Sustainable Development. It is intended that these will be used alongside conventional measures of GDP and GNP, as defined by the new European System of National Accounts.