§ Mr. Marlowasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are his latest estimates of the New Commonwealth and Pakistan ethnic origin percentage of the population and total population as calculated by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, the labour force survey and the general household survey; what are the reasons for any difference between these figures; and which gives the most accurate assessment.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe latest estimate of the size of the population of New Commonwealth and Pakistani ethnic origin, including persons of mixed origin, is that it accounted at mid-1981 for 4.1 per cent. of the population of Great Britain, or about 2,200,000 persons. The OPCS Monitor PP1 82/1 "Sources of statistics on ethnic minorities", a copy of which is being sent to my hon. Friend, concluded that there was broad consistency between this population estimate and estimates from the Labour Force Survey and the General Household Survey, allowing for differences in definition and the sampling variability inherent in results given by sample surveys.