§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) why, in table 16B of the technical annexe to the "Reform of Social Security", the number of lone parent losers broken down by decrease does not equal the figures given for the aggregate total decreased; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will publish a revised version of table 16A and 16B of the technical annex to the "Reform of Social Security" giving precise figures, rather than figures rounded to the nearest thousand; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonThe estimates in the technical annex are based on data in sample surveys and are, by their nature, approximations. Unrounded figures would give an air of spurious precision without adding to the usefulness of the information. As the technical annex makes clear in paragraph 2.14, numbers of claimants were rounded to 10,000 and, due to rounding, totals do not sum exactly in every case.