Statistical bulletin
International trade in services, UK: 2016
Product, industry and geographic breakdowns of imports and exports of services,
excluding travel, transport and banking sectors.
Contact: Release date: Next release:
Sami Hamroush 31 January 2018 31 January 2019
itis@ons.gsi.gov.uk
+44 (0)1633 455087
Table of contents
1. Main points
2. Things you need to know about this release
3. What is the overall picture in 2016?
4. Around half of UK trade in services in 2016 was with Europe
5. Professional, scientific and technical activities were the dominant industry grouping for UK trade in services in
2016
6. Services between related enterprises was a main service traded globally by the UK in 2016
7. Quality and methodology
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1 . Main points
Total UK exports of services (excluding travel, transport and banking) showed record growth in 2016, rising
from £123.2 billion in 2015 to £142.7 billion in 2016, an increase of 15.8%.
Total UK imports of services (excluding travel, transport and banking) also showed record growth in 2016
and rose by £10.2 billion to a total of £68.7 billion, an increase of 17.4%.
The information and communication sector showed the largest growth in 2016 for both UK exports and
imports of services in 2016, rising by £6.5 billion and £5.1 billion respectively.
The European Union was the geographic area that saw the largest increases in total UK exports and
imports of services with rises of £9.2 billion and £5.0 billion respectively in 2016.
UK exports of financial services products made the largest contribution to the rise in 2016 increasing from
£14.9 billion in 2015 to £18.4 billion.
2 . Things you need to know about this release
The 2016 International Trade in Services (ITIS) publication provides a detailed breakdown of annual trade in
services estimates, analysing data by country, product and industry. These data are sourced from our
International Trade in Services survey .
The ITIS survey is the main source of UK services trade data, although it is important to note that the survey does
not cover the whole of the UK services economy. The travel, transport and banking industries of the economy are
not covered by the ITIS survey, as these data are obtained from other sources such as the International
Passenger Survey and the Bank of England. Estimates for the overall level of trade in services, including these
industries, are published in our annual Pink Book and monthly UK trade publications.
Based on the 2016 estimates, the ITIS survey data contributed approximately 56% and 44% respectively to the
total trade in services export and import estimates for the whole of the UK. The contribution of the ITIS survey
data to the overall trade in services total has remained stable in recent years, with increases seen in 2016 to the
UK exports and imports contribution, from ITIS, of 2% and 3% respectively.
Figure 1: Percentage contribution of international trade in services to total trade in services, UK, 2016
Statistics presented in this bulletin include some estimates for businesses operating in the financial services
industry and values of exports and imports of financial services products. The exclusion of banks and other
related financial intermediaries does mean that these estimates only capture part of UK trade in financial
services.
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Reported trade for the “financial services” industries only captures the exports and imports of businesses involved
in non-banking activities, such as:
businesses operating and supervising financial markets
security and commodity contract brokers who deal on behalf of others
auxiliary financial services such as transaction processing, settlement and advisory services
businesses involved in auxiliary insurance and pension activities such as risk, evaluation and sales
fund management services
Financial services products exported or imported by businesses operating in industries unrelated to financial
services are also included.
3 . What is the overall picture in 2016?
Total UK exports of services (excluding the travel, transport and banking sectors) have followed an upward trend
since comparable records began. This trend continued into 2016, with UK exports of services reaching a peak of
£142,657 million. Growth in UK services exports in 2016 was the largest recorded in both value and percentage
terms, having risen by £19,426 million or 15.8%.
Total UK imports of services (excluding the travel, transport and banking sectors) have also followed an upward
trend since the comparable time series began. UK services imports continued to increase in 2016, rising by
£10,210 million to £68,718 million, an increase of 17.4%.
Data from the International Trade in Services (ITIS) survey has traditionally shown that the UK has run a trade in
services balance surplus, where the value of exports exceeds the value of imports. The larger increase in the
value of UK services exports relative to imports in 2016 resulted in the surplus increasing to £73,939 million.
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Figure 2: Total international trade in services (excluding travel, transport and banking), UK, 2001 to 2016
Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
1. All values are at current prices (see the Quality and methodology section for a definition).
4 . Around half of UK trade in services in 2016 was with
Europe
Europe has traditionally been a major destination for UK exports of services, accounting for slightly below half of
total services exports in 2016. The value of UK exports (excluding the travel, transport and banking sectors) to
Europe have followed an upward trend in recent years and showed record growth in 2016 of 17.8%, rising by
£10,567 million to a peak of £70,085 million.
Growth in UK exports to Europe has been more subdued in recent years, with annual increases of 2.7% (2014)
and 1.4% (2015). Most of the increase in 2016 was attributable to the European Union (EU), where UK exports
rose by £9,169 million to a level of £53,267 million. In terms of individual countries, the increase in exports was
driven by three main countries: Germany, the Republic of Ireland and France.
The Americas and Asia were the second- and third-largest destinations for UK services exports in 2016,
accounting for 28% and 17% respectively. Both regions experienced increases in 2016, with the Americas rising
by £5,622 million to £39,675 million and Asia rising by £3,326 million to £24,778 million.
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Similarly to exports, Europe is also a major source of UK services imports, accounting for above half of the total
value in 2016. The value of UK imports of services originating from Europe increased by £5,227 million to
£36,710 million in 2016. The increase was driven by a rise in imports from the EU, which rose by £5,013 million
to £30,879 million. Germany, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland were the main individual countries
driving the increase.
Other important regions for UK services imports were the Americas and Asia, which accounted for 27% and 16%
of the total value respectively in 2016. UK imports from the Americas saw a £3,237 million rise to £18,650 million
in 2016, while imports from Asia rose by £1,597 million to £10,662 million.
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Figure 3: UK international trade in services (excluding travel, transport and banking) exports by
continent, 2016
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Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
1. All values are at current prices (see the Quality and methodology section for a definition).
2. Geographical groupings can be found in the Quality and methodology section.
5 . Professional, scientific and technical activities were the
dominant industry grouping for UK trade in services in 2016
UK exports of services by industry
Over half of the UK’s total services exports (excluding the travel, transport and banking industries) were from
businesses operating in the professional, scientific and technical (£38,503 million) and information and
communication (£36,531 million) industries in 2016. The two industry groupings also reported the largest growth
in 2016, with exports from the information and communication industries rising by £6,535 million, while exports
from the professional, scientific and technical industries rose by £2,743 million.
The types of services exported by UK businesses operating in the professional, scientific and technical industries
were varied, but exports of “services between related enterprises”, “legal services”, “the provision of research and
development services”, and “engineering services” were the dominant products within the grouping. Together
they accounted for nearly half of all services exported by the professional, scientific and technical industries.
Services between related enterprises cover the export and import of services products between companies within
the same multinational group that are not captured in the other broad product categories, such as intercompany
charges for services provided to a parent company by a subsidiary.
Compared with the previous year, the main services types seeing growth in exports within this industry grouping
were “financial services” and “business management and management consulting services”.
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Figure 4: UK international trade in services (excluding travel, transport and banking) exports by industry,
2016
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Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
1. All values are at current prices (see the Quality and methodology section for a definition).
UK imports of services by industry
The information and communication industries have been the largest grouping in terms of importing services into
the UK since 2013, with the value of imports reaching £21,241 million in 2016, or slightly below one-third of all
services imports. The professional, scientific and technical activities industries were the second-largest grouping,
with imports of £16,592 million in 2016, or slightly below one-quarter of total services imports.
In terms of the type of services imported, UK businesses within the information and communication industries
mainly imported “telecommunication services”, “computer services”, and “services between related enterprises”,
which together accounted for above half of the industry grouping’s imports in 2016. Growth in the industry
grouping’s imports in 2016 was mainly attributable to imports of “services between related enterprises”, which
more than doubled to £3,413 million.
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Figure 5: UK international trade in services (excluding travel, transport and banking) imports by industry,
2016
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Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
1. All values are at current prices (see the Quality and methodology section for a definition).
6 . Services between related enterprises was a main service
traded globally by the UK in 2016
UK exports of services by product
Analysing trade in services statistics by the type of service traded (referred to as services products) shows that
“financial services” continued to be the single largest service exported globally by UK businesses (excluding the
travel, transport and banking sectors). UK exports of “financial services” increased from £14,896 million in 2015 to
£18,415 million in 2016, an increase of 23.6%. Except for 2014, “financial services” exports have been increasing
annually in recent years and in 2016, “financial services” exports accounted for 12.9% of the overall exports total.
“Services between related enterprises’” was the second-largest service product exported from the UK in 2016
and, despite showing flat growth between 2013 and 2015, rose by 22.5% in 2016 to £14,668 million.
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Figure 6: Top 10, UK international trade in services (excluding travel, transport and banking) exports by
product, 2016
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Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
1. All values are at current prices (see the Quality and methodology section for a definition).
UK imports of services by product
Services between related enterprises was the main service type imported by businesses into the UK in 2016 and
increased by £1,844 to £11,520 million in 2016. Alone, imports of “services between related enterprise”
accounted for 16.8% of the overall UK imports total in 2016 and increased to a record level.
Business management and management-consulting services made the second-largest contribution to the overall
UK imports total in 2016, rising by £2,194 million to £5,254 million – therefore becoming the largest services
product in terms of growth in 2016.
Figure 7: Top 10, UK international trade in services (excluding travel, transport and banking) imports by
product, 2016
Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
1. All values are at current prices (see the Quality and methodology section for a definition).
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7 . Quality and methodology
Basic quality information
The International trade in services Quality and Methodology Information report contains important information on:
the strengths and limitations of these data and how they compare with related data
users and uses of these data
how the output was created
the quality of the output including the accuracy of data
Accuracy
Sampling error is the error caused by observing a sample instead of the whole population. While each sample is
designed to produce the “best” estimate of the true population value, a number of equal-sized samples covering
the population would generally produce varying population estimates. Sampling error is affected by a number of
factors including sample size.
Sample surveys are used instead of censuses, because the process would be too lengthy and costly to be viable.
Standard errors are an estimate of the sampling error and provide a measure of the precision of the estimate. A
low standard error indicates a precise estimate. To aid comparison, the standard error is also expressed as a
percentage of the total value. This quantity is called the coefficient of variation and it allows the standard errors to
be put into context.
In addition to sampling errors, there is the potential for non-sampling error that cannot be easily quantified. For
example, undetected deficiencies may occur in the survey register and errors may be made by the contributors
when completing the survey questionnaires.
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Table 1: Standard errors, 2016
Exports Imports
Standard Relative Standard Relative
Estimate Estimate
Industries error (£ Standard error error (£ Standard
(£ million) (£ million)
million) (%) million) error (%)
Total ITIS 142,657 1,767 1 68,718 572 1
Manufacturing 14,248 99 1 8,522 105 1
Wholesale & Retail 13,806 391 3 6,690 286 5
Information & 36,531 447 1 21,241 357 2
Communication
Professional, 38,503 1,094 3 16,592 202 1
Scientific &
Technical
Administrative & 8,482 647 8 3,330 223 8
Support Services
Arts, Entertainment 4,375 44 1 1,932 15 1
& Recreation
Source: Office for National Statistics
In addition to this sample, we also select approximately 9,000 businesses via the Annual Business Survey and
have included results from the quarterly International Trade in Services (ITIS) survey collected for each of the
quarters of 2016.
Non-response bias is a potential issue for all statistical surveys. Non-response bias occurs where the answers of
respondents may have differed from the potential answers of non-responders. The risk of non-response bias is
minimised by efforts to maximise response rates. Estimation techniques can attempt to correct for any bias that
might be present. Despite this, it is not easy, on any survey, to quantify the extent to which non-response bias
remains a problem. However, there is no evidence to suggest that non-response bias presents a particular issue
for the ITIS survey.
Imputation methods are used to estimate values for all businesses in the sample that did not return data.
Estimation methods are used to estimate values for all non-sampled businesses within the population to produce
an overall estimate for the population.
The response rate for the 2016 annual survey is shown in Table 2.
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Table 2: International Trade in Services survey response rates, UK, 2016
UK
2016
Results
Sample size 15,637
Forms with response 13,584
Forms non response 2,053
Overall response rate 87
(%)
Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes to tables
The tables present ITIS estimates through a variety of formats. Some tables compare figures over several years
but the majority provide the most recent geographic information by industry or product. The tables provide
information in as much detail as possible without disclosing the details of any individual companies. Any
disclosive data are replaced by the following symbol throughout the tables “..”. It is important to note that within
the geographical tables, amounts are shown against the geographical area from which they were received,
irrespective of where they were first earned.
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) comprises of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The sum
of constituent items in tables may not always agree exactly with the totals shown due to rounding. The following
symbols have been used throughout:
“..” is used for figures suppressed to avoid disclosure of information relating to individual enterprises
“–” is used for nil or less than half the final digit shown
Values shown are in current prices, which refer to the price at which the services were either bought or sold in the
market.
Guidance on interpreting international trade in services statistics
The ITIS survey collects data relating to the amounts spent on both the imports and exports of UK businesses
and collects geographical information as to where the services have either been imported from or exported to.
Types of transactions covered
Product: The statistical output from the ITIS survey covers the value of transactions between the UK and
residents in other countries in respect of 52 products. The 2013 ITIS questionnaire was revised in accordance
with new international regulations. A breakdown showing the service products collected up to 2012 and from
2013 onwards can be found in Table 3.
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Table 3: International Trade in Services (ITIS) questionnaire codes 2012 to 2013 onwards, UK
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Questionnaire breakdown up to and
Questionnaire breakdown 2013 onward
including 2012
01. Agricultural Services 01. Agricultural, forestry and fishing services
02. Mining Services 02. Mining and oil gas extraction services
03. Waste treatment and depollution 03. Waste treatment and depollution services
04. Other on-site processing services 04. Manufacturing services on goods owned by others
05. Maintenance and repair services
05. Accountancy, auditing, bookkeeping and tax 06. Accountancy, auditing, bookkeeping and tax consulting
consulting services services
06. Advertising 07. Advertising, market research and public opinion polling
services
07. Management consulting 08. Business management and management consulting
services
08. Public relations services 09. Public relations services
09. Recruitment and training 10. Recuritment services
10. Other business management services (see 08. Business management and management consulting
7) services
11. Legal services 11. Legal services
12. Market research and public opinion polling 07. Advertising, market research and public opinion polling
(see 6) services
13. Operational leasing services 12. Operating leasing services
14. Procurement 13. Procurement services
15. Property management 14. Property management services
16. Research & Development 16. Provision of R&D services
17. Provision of product development and testing activities
17. Services between related enterprises 51. Transactions between related businesses not included
elsewhere
18. Other business and professional services 15. Other business and professional services
19. Postal and courier services 21. Postal and courier services
20. Telecommunication services 22. Telecommunication services
21. Computer services 23. Computer services
22. News agency services 25. News agency services
23. Publishing services 24. Publishing services
24. Other information provision services 26. Information services
25. Construction in the UK 27. Construction in the UK
26. Construction outside the UK 28. Construction outside the UK
27. Financial services 29. Financial services
28. Auxilliary services 36. Auxilliary services
29. Claims 32. Freight insurance claims
30. Premiums 33. Freight insurance premiums
31. Claims 30. Life insurance claims
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32. Premiums 31. Life insurance premiums
33. Claims Removed
34. Premiums Removed
35. Claims 34. Other direct insurance claims
36. Premiums 35. Other direct insurance premiums
No equivalent 37. Pension service receipts
No equivalent 38. Pension service charges
No equivalent 39. Standardised guarantee service claims
No equivalent 40. standardised guarantee service premiums
37. Merchanting 41. Merchanting
38. Other trade-related services 42. Other trade-related services
39. Audio-visual and related services 43. Audio-visual and related services
40. Health services 44. Health services
41. Training and educational services 45. Training and educational services
42. Other personal, cultural and recreational 46. Heritage and recretional services
services
43. Use of franchise and similar rights fees 18b. Charges or payments for the use of the above, but
without transfer of ownership
44. Other royalties and license fees 19b. Charges or payments for the use of the above, but
without transfer of ownership
45. Purchases ans sales of franchises and 20b. Charges or payments for the use of the above, but
similar rights without transfer of ownership
46. Purchases ans sales of other royalties and 18a. Outright sales and purchases of the above, resulting in
licenses transfer of ownership
19a. Outright sales and purchases of the above, resulting in
transfer of ownership
20a. Outright sales and purchases of the above, resulting in
transfer of ownership
42. Other personal, cultural and recreational 47. Social, domestic and other personal services
services
47.Architectural 48. Architectural services
48. Engineering 49. Engineering services
49.Surveying (see 50) 50. Scientific and other technical services (including
surveying)
50. Other technical services (see 49)
51. Other trade in services 52. Other trade in services
Source: Office for National Statistics
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Industry: The industry analysis enables estimation for the total international transactions in services by economic
classification for well-defined areas of the economy using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) information.
Data from 2009 in this publication have been published in SIC 2007 classification , which is an internationally-
recognised classification. This provides a framework for the collection, tabulation, presentation and analysis of
data about economic activities. Prior to 2009, SIC 2003 classification was used.
Geographical: Both industry and product information are analysed geographically. The tables within this
publication show the countries to which services are exported and from which services are imported. The
geographical groupings used in the tables can be found in Table 4.
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Table 4: Geographical groupings for the International Trade in Services survey
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Australasia &
Europe The Americas Asia Africa
Oceania
SPECIFIED SPECIFIED SPECIFIED SPECIFIED SPECIFIED
COUNTRIES COUNTRIES COUNTRIES COUNTRIES COUNTRIES
Austria Brazil China Australia Nigeria
Belgium Canada Hong Kong New Zealand South Africa
Bulgaria Mexico India
Channel Islands USA Indonesia OTHER OTHER COUNTRIES
COUNTRIES
Croatia Israel American Oceania Algeria
Cyprus OTHER COUNTRIES Japan Antarctica Angola
Czech Republic Anguilla Malaysia Australian Oceania Benin
Denmark Antigua & Barbuda Pakistan Fiji Botswana
Estonia Argentina Philippines Kiribati British Indian Ocean
Finland Aruba Saudi Arabia Marshall Islands Burkina Faso
France Bahamas Singapore Micronesia Burundi
Germany Barbados South Korea Nauru Cameroon
Greece Belize Taiwan New Zealand Cape Verde
Oceania
Hungary Bermuda Thailand Northern Mariana Central African
Islands Republic
Iceland Bolivia Palau Chad
Irish Republic British Virgin Islands OTHER Papua New Guinea Comoros
COUNTRIES
Isle of Man Cayman Islands Abu Dhabi Pitcairn Congo
Italy Chile Afghanistan Polar regions Cote d’Ivoire
Latvia Columbia Armenia Solomon Islands Djibouti
Liechtenstein Costa Rica Azerbaijan Tonga Egypt
Lithuania Cuba Bahrain Tuvalu Equatorial Guinea
Luxembourg Dominica Bangladesh Vanuatu Eritrea
Malta Dominican Republic Bhutan Samoa Ethiopia
Netherlands Ecuador Brunei Gabon
Norway El Salvador Cambodia Gambia
Poland Falkland Islands Dubai Ghana
Portugal Grenada Georgia Guinea
Romania Guatemala Iran Guinea Bissau
Russia Guyana Iraq Kenya
Slovakia Haiti Jordan Lesotho
Slovenia Honduras Kazakhstan Liberia
Spain Jamaica Kuwait Libya
Sweden Montserrat Kyrgyzstan Madagascar
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Switzerland Nicaragua Laos Malawi
Turkey Netherlands Antillies Lebanon Mali
Panama Macao Mauritania
OTHER Paraguay Maldives Mauritius
COUNTRIES
Albania Peru Mongolia Morocco
Andorra St Kitts & Nevis Myanmar (Burma) Mozambique
Belarus St Lucia Nepal Namibia
Bosnia-Hercegovina St Maaten North Korea Niger
Gibraltar St Vincent & The Oman Rwanda
Grenadines
Macedonia Surinam Palestinian Territory Sao Tome & Principe
Moldova Trinidad & Tobago Qatar Senegal
Montenegro Turks & Caicos Islands Sharjah Seychelles &
Dependencies
San Marino Uruguay Sri Lanka Sierra Leone
Serbia US Virgin Islands Syria Somalia
Ukraine Venezuela Tajikistan St Helena &
Dependencies
Vatican City State West Indies Turkmenistan Sudan
United Arab Swaziland
Emirates
Uzbekistan Tanzania
Vietnam Togo
Yemen Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Source: Office for National Statistics
Earnings from third country trade, that is, from arranging the sale of goods between two countries other than the
UK and where the goods never physically enter the UK are included. This activity is known as merchanting.
Earnings from commodity trading are also included. As with merchanting, the service element is the profit or loss.
Types of transactions not covered
The purpose of the ITIS survey is to record international transactions that impact on the UK’s Balance of
Payments, hence companies are asked to exclude from their earnings trade expenses such as the cost of
services purchased and consumed abroad. Trade in services exports or imports that are invoices for the export or
import of goods are excluded as they are already counted in the estimates for trade in goods.
The ITIS survey currently selects for the whole of the economy, with a number of exceptions, such as:
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travel
transport
banking and other financial institutions
higher education
charities
most activities within the legal profession
Coverage
The figures for the European Union (EU) relate to the 27 member states of the EU from 2013 onwards. Trade
with EU institutions is also included in the EU totals and excluded from the international organisations totals.
Please note that all tables in this publication only include data collected via the ITIS and Annual Business Survey
surveys.
The film and television (FTV) industries are included in the published data from 2009 onwards. For 2008, FTV
figures were collected via a separate survey and data were published in the International transactions of the UK
film and television industries statistical bulletin 2008 .
The ITIS survey is just one component of trade in services (TIS) estimates. Data for TIS in this report are
consistent with the UK Balance of Payments, which can be found in Pink Book Chapter 3 .
By analogy with trade in goods we refer to the type of service traded as a “product analysis” – the products being
consistent with the sixth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual . The second type of analysis is referred to as
the “industry analysis” – covering well-defined areas of the economy.
Both types of tables, industry and product, have been analysed on a geographical basis by showing the countries
to which services are exported and from which they are imported. Both of these types of analyses are preceded
by geographical analysis of imports and exports of total international trade in services.
The industry analysis allows us to estimate the total international transactions in services for well-defined areas of
the economy. It also tells us the exporting or importing country in relation to the UK.
Discussing business statistics online
There is a Business and Trade Statistics community on the StatsUserNet website. StatsUserNet is the Royal
Statistical Society’s interactive site for users of official statistics. The community objectives are to promote
dialogue and share information between users and producers of official business and trade statistics about the
structure, content and performance of businesses within the UK. Anyone can join the discussions by registering
via either of the previous links.
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