I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Treasury Committee established a Sub-committee
in 1998 to scrutinise the work of the various bodies for which
Treasury Ministers are accountable. The Sub-committee has completed
inquiries into the Office for National Statistics (ONS),[2]
the Inland Revenue,[3]
the Valuation Office Agency,[4]
HM Customs and Excise,[5]
and the Government's cash and debt management.[6]
A report on the work of the Sub-committee since it was established
was published as part of a report on the work of the Treasury
Committee in December 2000.[7]
2. The proposed new arrangements for National Statistics
were one focus of the Sub-committee's inquiry into the Office
for National Statistics and their implementation was followed
up in sessions of oral evidence with the Economic Secretary to
the Treasury and officials of HM Treasury and the ONS on 1 March
2000 and with the Statistics Commission, the National Statistician,
and the Minister again on 16 November 2000.[8]
Prior to the second evidence session we requested written memoranda
from a range of interested parties and we are publishing many
of those we received, and the minutes of both oral evidence sessions,
with this Report. We identified a number of weaknesses in the
management and structure of Government statistics. The Government
has responded by introducing changes and innovations which, as
far as they go, we support, although we are dissatisfied that
the Government has not placed the new arrangements on a statutory
footing, something to which we return in the concluding paragraph.
We focus below on a small number of key issues which are central
to National Statistics and will determine the extent to which
the new arrangements are successful.
2 Treasury Committee, First Report, 1998-99, Office
for National Statistics, HC43 (hereafter ONS Report) Back
3
Treasury Committee, Sixth Report, 1998-99, Inland Revenue,
HC199 Back
4
Treasury Committee, Tenth Report, 1998-99, Valuation Office
Agency, HC420 Back
5
Treasury Committee, Second Report, 1999-2000, HM Customs and
Excise, HC53 Back
6
Treasury Committee, Sixth Report, 1999-2000, Government's Cash
and Debt Management, HC154 Back
7
Treasury Committee, First Report, 2000-01, The Work of the
Treasury Committee and Treasury Sub-committee, HC41 Back
8
See paragraph 4 for a definition of National Statistics Back
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