New figures prompt SBF to question accuracy of official long term construction trends

Responding to figures released today on Friday showing output from the UK construction fell by 4.8% during the first three months of 2011, Scottish Building Federation Chief Executive Michael Levack said: "There is real volatility in the results being recorded for the construction industry which again leads me to question their accuracy. By which I mean our own anecdotal evidence is that the industry is suffering much more than the long-term official statistics would seem to suggest. It’s something the industry has repeatedly raised with the Office of National Statistics but we seem to be no further forward in improving the situation.

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"In reality, jobs are down, bankruptcies are up, output has plummeted and there’s little prospect of recovery this year. These are the facts politicians should be using to determine what policies to pursue to get our economy moving again – not a rollercoaster of official figures that bear no relation to the real world."

(GK)