LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The Statistics Commission has backed the Bank of England's warnings that the quality of key economic data may be damaged by moving the Office of National Statistics and reducing staff numbers, The Times reported.
In an annual report released yesterday, the watchdog responsible for the integrity of National Statistics threw its weight behind the BoE's concerns that relocating the ONS to Newport from London risks damaging vital economic figures used to make decisions on steering the economy, the paper said.
"The Commission believes that the confluence of the various risks - including the published goal of cutting 700 jobs and relocating a further 850 - threatens the delivery of statistical products and services now and in the future," the Commission said in its report.
The Commission itself is to be wound up after the government's Statistics Bill is passed, which will see its role handed to a new Statistics Board, expected at the end of 2007. The board will also have executive responsibility for managing the ONS.
The Statistics Commission sounded renewed concern that this could raise issues of conflicts of interest, the paper said.
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