§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will consider the publication of a quarterly figure of unemployment based on the quarterly supplements to the labour force survey.
§ Mr. LeeThe quarterly results are (because of the small sample on which they are based) insufficiently reliable for it to be appropriate to publish actual quarterly estimates of unemployment. They can, however, support valid quarterly indications of the trend in such variables.
Officials are considering the quality of the quarterly data and of trend indicators which might be derived from them. Decisions about publication will be taken when that consideration has been completed.