ABSTRACT
The construction industry has many measures of output. Various trade surveys seek to gauge activity across most aspects of contracting and building, the production and delivery of building materials and the construction-related professional and consultancy work. Responsibility for the construction output statistics can be traced back to the Ministry of Works which was formed in 1940. In 2001 responsibility for the construction statistics moved to the Department of Trade and Industry, which in 2007 became the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The most obvious effect was to raise measured construction output by about 4%. The construction industry had plunged into a deep recession and the UK government had brought forward investment into the sector to moderate the impact of falling private spending. Responsibility for the collection and publication of the construction output statistics has shifted over time, and there have been significant changes in definitions, collection methods and types of work, and structure and operation of the industry.
