Britain Seeks to Better Accuracy of Statistics

LONDON — The production of Britain’s economic statistics, notorious for major errors over the past year, is being reorganized, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said.

Much information has been misleading. In the third quarter of last year, when the government was raising interest rates to cool an expanding economy, the gross domestic product figures showed a sharp fall in the value of goods and services.

The reorganization will give a bigger role to an enlarged Central Statistical Office. The agency will report to Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson.