Examination of Witnesses (Questins 298-299)
ANGELA EAGLE
MP
6 FEBRUARY 2008
Q298 Chairman: Could I welcome you back
to the Sub-Committee? Perhaps you could formally identify yourself
for the shorthand writer?
Angela Eagle: I am Angela Eagle,
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.
Q299 Chairman: When Karen Dunnell
gave evidence to us last week, she said that ONS had identified
two areas for additional funding where she needed extra money
straight away. One was the census and the other was the improvement
of migration statistics. How much do ministers think she needs
for each of those two things?
Angela Eagle: The settlement for
the ONS and the new Statistics Board, which you will be aware
is five years, not three, has been done outwith the normal CSR
process and did provide a generous settlement, certainly when
you compare it to the other Chancellor's departments for this.
It provided extra money for work on migration statistics and regional
statistics particularly, developing more accurate measures of
gross value added at regional level. There is already some scope
in the settlement that has been made but on top of that the work
that Karen has done, particularly on the proposed fourth page
of the census, we all agree would cost about £25 million
and some extra for changes to migration statistics on top of the
additional millions that were put in the CSR settlement, so it
is of that kind of order.
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