An Introduction to the Basic Concepts - Construction Economics: A New Approach - page 23

for policy and decision making. The Bank of England and the Treasury are also
responsible for a significant number of statistical releases relating to finance and the
current economic climate, and this output is often supported by commentary from
government economists.
For specific information relating to construction, the key source in the UK is the
Construction Statistics Annual . A new edition is published each year around August,
and it can be freely viewed in its entirety on the ONS website. Most of the tables
are available in spreadsheet form, allowing the quarterly analyses to be annualised
quite easily. The publication amalgamates all construction statistics produced by
central and local government, together with data from a quarterly survey of private
sector construction firms. It also carries an appendix that provides detailed notes
on methodology and definitions to clarify the tables and figures. Overall it provides
a comprehensive picture of the UK construction industry through the last decade,
together with some international comparisons. (For example, the references to
industry sectors in Table 1.3 and data on the value of output shown in Table 1.4
are derived from Construction Statistics Annual .) As with most economic data
there is always a time lag, so the 2011 edition only presents data up until 2010.
Consequently, data quoted in this text can appear out of date before the topic even
goes to print. It is important, therefore, that you have the confidence to research
data for yourself, and this is one of the reasons that website sources are provided.

RESEARCHING DATA
When using official national statistics, in hard copy or from the Internet, it is useful
to be aware of several conventions regarding their presentation. First, the symbols
shown in Table 1.7 represent a summary of the main footnotes.

Table 1.7 Symbols used to annotate official statistics

Not available

- Nil or less than half the final digit shown

P Provisional

Revised

R

These qualifying notes make it clear that published official statistics can be no
more than an estimate. This observation is not made to discredit official statistics
but to emphasise that any errors or omissions are corrected as soon as possible - the
ultimate goal is to produce data sets that are as reliable and robust as possible.
Second, some statistical series do not have sufficiently consistent data to refer to the
United Kingdom as a whole, and only refer to Great Britain or are restricted simply to
England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. To give just one example, construction
output figures tend to be specific to Great Britain. There is also a possibility that the
data set may only relate to a quarter - in which case, it may be necessary to multiply