§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the statistics that are collected by his Department by English parliamentary constituency; and if he will make a statement. [67099]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. David Laws, dated 8 July 2002:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question on which statistics are collected by English Parliamentary Constituency. I am replying in his absence. (67099)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) collects a wide range of statistics. However, they are not collected at Parliamentary Constituency level for a number of reasons. In particular, most of the statistics collected at a local level are based on administrative areas such as local authorities, and these do not always share boundaries with Parliamentary Constituencies.
Members of the Government Statistical Service (GSS) in all Government Departments provide a statistical service to the House of Commons Library.
The House of Commons Library provides a tailored service for MP's. Statistics that can often be provided at Parliamentary Constituency level include economic status (employment. unemployment and inactivity), claimant count, employee jobs, average earnings and Census data. Also, many statistics that are available at a lower level can generally be aggregated to Parliamentary Constituency level. This includes the increasing range of statistics at ward level becoming available through ONS's Neighbourhood Statistics Service (www.statistics.gov.uk/ neighbourhood).