Lord Naseby
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(13 years ago)
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Lord Naseby
Has my noble friend seen the number of recent articles about the Office for National Statistics and the conflict between the figures that it has produced for the output of the construction industry and the figures that that industry believes are correct? The difference appears to be 0.3 per cent of national growth. This is a severe and difficult area and therefore should not the Office for National Statistics resolve that issue once and for all before the next lot of statistics come out?
Lord Sassoon
We are straying a bit from the subject of this Question but, as there do not seem to be many other noble Lords wanting to get in, I will say that I know how difficult it is for the ONS to produce these statistics. I am sure that it will continue to look at all ways of improving the way that it deals with the data. There was a one-off change to the way in which construction data were reported and the industry is questioning that. I am sure that the ONS is on the case.