Chamber and committees

The potential for productionof a measure of gross national income (the ESA95 equivalent of GNP) wasconsidered by the Scottish Economic Statistics Consultants Group in June 2002. Afterconsidering evidence from an initial study, the group decided that it was notfeasible to pursue it because of the difficulty of measurement, inparticular of investment flows between Scotland and the rest of the UK. A papersummarising the reasoning behind the decision is available on the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/scotstats/committees/economy/meetings/sescg912003.pdf.

Work is on-going to improvethe available information on household wealth in Scotland.

No other region of the UK currentlyproduces a quarterly GDP index, so the change in methodology does not directlyaffect them. The Office for National Statistics produces regional analysis forall regions of the UK through the annual regional accounts exercise.

England and Wales do not currently produce quarterly indices of GDP.

The only GDP data availablefor England and Wales are from the annual regional accounts produced bythe Office for National Statistics. Regional accounts include estimates of GVAfor the 12 regions of the UK, including Scotland, all on the same basis.

The introduction of annualchain-linking was recommended by the European System of National Accounts 1993(SNA93). All member states of the EU were required to adopt this methodology by2005.

The Scottish EconomicStatistics Programme published in Scottish Economic Statistics 2001 notedthe intention to adopt the methodology for Scottish GDP. This proposal was openfor consultation, and the Scottish Economics Statistics Consultants Group ofexternal experts fully supported the decision to adopt the EU standardapproach. A number of articles on the subject have been published in subsequentpublications.

There is not one singlemeasure of economic activity of the people of Scotland, and the Executivealready considers a range of indicators alongside gross domestic product,including for example, labour market statistics, earnings, benefit claimantsand export activity.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6270 on 10 march 2004. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The calculation of GDP isbased on a wide range of data sources including monthly and quarterly turnoverinquiries carried out by the Office for National Statistics; published datasources (e.g. on employment levels or activity levels in certain industries);and data received directly from companies and other organisations. This informationis aggregated for more than 260 industries in Scotland to produce the GDPindex.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6508 on 9 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The UK weightfor the oil and gas sector covers the whole sector, including extraction. the Scottish weight for oil and gas only covers the part of the sector related to“service activities incidental to oil and gas extraction excluding surveying”.

As the extraction of oil andgas occurs on the continental shelf, under EU directions it is classified as extraregio and treated as a separate region of the UK.Extraction of oil and gas is therefore included in the UK GDP figures but notin the GDP figures for any of the 12 regions of the UK.

The Scottish quarterly indexis based on the output measure of GDP, therefore household incomes, earningsetc. are not taken into account in this calculation.