§ Mrs. HumbleTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of unemployment was in each year since 1997 in Blackpool, North and Fleetwood. [176400]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mrs. Joan Humble, dated 7 June 2004:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about unemployment. I am replying in his absence. (176400)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation definitions. However, the LFS sample size is too small to give reliable estimates of unemployment in the Blackpool North & Fleetwood Constituency.
ONS also compiles statistics of those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for local areas including parliamentary constituencies.
The table below gives the annual average number of JSA claimants for the Blackpool North & Fleetwood constituency for each year since 1997.
239W
JSA claimants in the Blackpool, North and Fleetwood constituency—annual averages 1997 to 2003 Average annual claimants 1997 2,489 1998 2,092 1999 1,913 2000 1,807 2001 1,701 2002 1,493 2003 1,365