Concerns are increasing ahead of the Budget that the quality of official data is being compromised by the loss of skilled staff at the Office for National Statistics as it relocates to Newport, south Wales.
About a third of the government department's London-based staff have resigned, retired early or taken redundancy in the first phase of the shift this year, and only about 40 of the 600 staff have thus far accepted the offer to move.
The ONS has announced that this year's "Blue Book", its annual cross-check on the accuracy of the national accounts, will not be published in full, "creating some temporary additional uncertainty about the path of the economy".The annual statement of the UK's balance of
payments will "include less analysis than usual".
The Bank of England has expressed concerns that planned improvements to the measurement of the service sector have been delayed. Preparations for the 2011 population census are falling behind, as are plans to collect improved migration data. The ONS has also admitted that a survey on wealth is behind schedule.
The last time the government cut funding for statistics - in the 1980s - it took several years for inaccuracies to become apparent. Lord Lawson, then chancellor, has since blamed the failings of his economic policies on poor data.
(source: The Financial Times)
ED: That's alright then we can have real rubbish economic figures just in time for the Blair Brown swop. There will now be no way for anyone to contradict New Labour claims.
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