HL Deb 25 January 1999 vol 596 cc121-2WA
Lord Brabazon of Tara

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why local area gross domestic product figures contained in an Office for National Statistics press release dated 22 October 1998 were forwarded to Eurostat for use in establishing eligibility for European Union structural funding from 2000, despite the figures being provisional and new local data for 1996 being imminently available. [HL476]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from the Registrar General and Head of the Government Statistical Service, Dr. Tim Holt, dated 25 January 1999.

As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the local area gross domestic product (GDP) figures published on 22 October 1998.

You will be aware of the changes to the classification of areas for European purposes (the NUTS classification) which were agreed last summer. The GDP figures published on 22 October related to the new NUTS level 2 and 3 areas. This was the first time that figures at this level had become available.

The figures for 1994 to 1996 were supplied by the ONS to Eurostat to meet their deadline for the compilation of harmonised sub-national GDP figures for all member states of the European Union. Eurostat subsequently published the estimates via their datashops on 18 November 1998, and the figures have also been made available on the CRONOS database. Eurostat were asked to make estimates for 1994 to 1996 available at that time by the European Commission directorates responsible for regional policy, in order to ensure that consistent data could be used for both State Aid and European Structural Funds purposes.

The alternative would have been for Eurostat to use 1995 figures for the previous NUTS structure for the UK, and project forward to 1996. In other words, they would have had to use out-of-date figures for an out-of-date geographical classification.

The local area GDP figures are not expected to be revised until later this year.