8 Statistics
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6715/06
COM(06) 66
| Draft Regulation concerning structural business statistics
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| Legal base | Article 285(1) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Office for National Statistics
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 19 April 2006
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 34-xxiii (2005-06), para 11 (29 March 2006)
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| To be discussed in Council | Not known
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested.
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Background
8.1 Regulation (EC, Euratom) No. 58/97 sets a framework for Community
statistics on the structure, activity, competitiveness and performance
of businesses. The Regulation has since been amended four times.
8.2 The draft Regulation is to consolidate the existing
Regulations and to make a number of amendments to the regime.
When we considered this proposal previously we asked, before considering
the matter further, to:
- have an explicit statement
on the Government's support, or otherwise, for the proposal;
- hear of progress in ensuring that business services
requirements proposed were proportionate and that definitions
proposed in relation to the financial mediation sector were appropriate;
- know about the Government's consultations with
UK business interests about the proposal, particularly in relation
to compliance costs; and
- hear of the outcome on a question, in relation
to subsidiarity, as to whether a Commission claim to exclusive
competence was justified.[15]
The Minister's letter
8.3 The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (John
Healey) now says that:
- the Government does support
the draft Regulation, noting particularly that it will improve
the codification of existing data collection and meet its wish
to improve statistics on business services and financial intermediaries;
- the Government has undertaken four pilot surveys
in relation to the business services sector, which indicate that
the new requirements are proportionate;
- the expectation is that consideration of statistics
on financial intermediation, as foreseen in the draft regulation,
would ensure that definitions are appropriate in relation both
to what is required and to what businesses can readily provide;
- the pilot surveys have suggested that the new
requirements do not impose an unreasonable compliance burden on
businesses — the median time to complete recent pilot questionnaires
for businesses services was one hour; and
- the subsidiarity/competence issue is being considered
by the Council legal service.
Conclusion
8.4 We are grateful to the Minister for his responses.
But before considering this document finally we should like to
know in due course of the outcome of the subsidiarity/competence
issue. Meanwhile we do not clear the document.
15 See headnote. Back
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