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Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of compliance is with the annual business inquiry financial questionnaire circulated by the Office for National Statistics; and what penalties exist for non-compliance. [155749] Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply. Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Patrick Nicholls, dated 29 March 2001: As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the rate of compliance with the Annual Business Inquiry Financial Questionnaire and what penalties exist for non- compliance (155749). In 1999, 86 per cent of the businesses included in the Annual Business Inquiry completed the Financial Questionnaire. The Annual Business Inquiry is conducted on a statutory basis using powers provided by the Statistics of Trade Act 1947. Businesses that do not respond are liable to prosecution under section 4(1) of the Act. The maximum penalty is a fine of £2,500. However, enforcement action is only used as a last resort when all other efforts, such as postal and telephone reminder action, have failed to secure the return. The Office for National Statistics uses statutory powers because voluntary surveys would have very low response rates. This would lead to unrepresentative samples and biased results, larger sample sizes with many more businesses receiving questionnaires, and to those businesses which chose to reply being unfairly burdened.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

155749; 366 c52W

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Business Office for National Statistics Questionnaires

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk