HC Deb 26 February 1991 vol 186 cc464-5W
Mr. Steen

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full and part-time staff are employed in the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys and at what cost; and what are their tasks.

Mr. Dorrell

At 1 February 1991, 2,297 full-time and 112 part-time staff were employed in the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys. The estimated cost for the current financial year is £32,506,000, including salaries, national insurance costs and some superannuation.

The staff carry out a broad range of tasks. These include preparation for the 1991 census of population, a variety of statistical work, designing, executing and publishing reports of surveys carried out for other Government Departments, maintaining the national health service central register and administration of the laws relating to births, death and marriage registration.

In support of these activities, staff are also employed in developing and maintaining information technology systems and in providing personnel, finance, accommodation and management information services.

Mr. Doran

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys is to conduct, commission or participate in a longitudinal survey of individuals, or information relating to individuals, obtained through the 1991 national census.

Mr. Dorrell

The OPCS has no plans to conduct, commission or participate in a longitudinal survey based on the 1991 census. Such a survey would entail repeated interviewing of a sample of the population over a period of time. However, the OPCS administers a longitudinal study which can be used to link together, when required, data for a 1 per cent. sample of the population of England and Wales to produce statistical tables. The study includes the information from the various records of events held by the OPCS. The events include the 1971 and 1981 censuses, births and deaths and so on. The study provides additional insights in the process of changes over time and increases the usefulness of information collected by the OPCS. As announced in the winter 1989 issue of "Population Trends", a copy of which is in the Library, the OPCS plans to include the appropriate sample of records from the 1991 census in the study.