§ Mr.ForthTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people were employed in(a) central Government, (b) local and regional government, (c) agencies of government, (d) the services sector and (e) manufacturing in (i) June 1997 and (ii) December 2002. [92673]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from L. Cook to Mr. Eric Forth, dated 27 January 2003:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question about how many people were employed in (a) central government, (b) local and regional government (c) agencies of government, (d) services sector and (e) manufacturing in (i) June 1997 and (ii) December 2002. (92673)The latest information is given below. The Office for National Statistics does not use the term 'agencies of government', so, for completeness, total public sector employment is shown:
Workforce Jobs by Sector thousands June 1997 June 2001 September 2002 Central government 870 874 not available Local authorities 2,593 2,732 not available Public non-financial corporations 1,491 1,557 not available Total public sector 4,954 5,163 not available Total services (seasonally adjusted) 21,152 22,922 23,158 Manufacturing (seasonally adjusted) 4,493 4,054 3,835 Source:
Economic Trends, June 2002 issue, ONS
Labour Market Trends Table B.I8, ONS
Estimates of workforce jobs are based on the results of regular sample surveys of employers which count the number of employee jobs. Full information on public sector employment is published once a year; data for 2002 will be published in an article in Economic Trends in June 2003.
The Cabinet Office publication 'Civil Service Statistics 2001' shows civil servants in main departments and Next Step agencies separately and a separate Cabinet Office publication, 'Public Bodies 2001' gives details of employment in Non-Departmental Public Bodies. Both these publications are available from the House of Commons Library.