§ Mr. Wickendenasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will estimate the cost to public funds of conducting the recent labour force survey; and to what extent the information wholly or partly duplicates that recently obtained by the national census survey.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe cost of conducting the 1981 European Community labour force survey in the United Kingdom is estimated to be £1.3 million. Member countries of the Community are required, under a regulation, to carry out the survey and in 1981 the Community is expected to contribute about 10 per cent. of the total cost.
139WAlthough some of the questions asked were similar, there is virtually no duplication between the scope and purpose of this year's labour force survey and the census of population. The two sources complement rather than duplicate each other.
The decennial census, in which a relatively few simple questions were asked of everyone in the country, is a source of key benchmark data for the country as a whole and a unique source of data for small areas. In contrast, the biennial labour force survey, in which participation is voluntary, is based on a comparatively small sample of households—a half of one per cent.—and provides national and regional, but not local data more frequently and in more detail than in the census and on a wider range of topics. The data from the survey of the changing size and composition of the labour force in the United Kingdom is not available regularly from other sources.
The labour force survey provides comparable statistics for countries of the Community on detailed aspects of unemployment, employment and other features of the labour force. An important use of these data is in helping to determine the allocation of selective aid from the European budget.