§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will set out the New Earnings Survey data on which his proposed adjustment to the Area Cost Adjustment is based; and if he will provide data for earnings in the South Gloucestershire Unitary Authority area on the same basis and over the same period. [135128]
§ Ms Beverley Hughes[holding answer 30 October 2000]: The data used to calculate the proposed update to the Area Cost Adjustment (ACA) indicator is taken from the April 1999 New Earnings Survey (NES). We are unable to release the disaggregated data for individual authorities, as this would breach the confidentiality agreement under which the data is collected as it could reveal the identity of an individual firm or person.
Under the ACA methodology, the data for South Gloucestershire Unitary Authority contributes to the population-weighted average hourly wage calculation for 406W the 'Rest of England'. The table sets out the average hourly wages for the five ACA areas using the April 1999 NES data.
ACA area 1999 NES £ per hour City of London 15.55 Inner London 12.83 Outer London 11.40 South East Region 10.89 Rest of England 9.91