§ Mr. Nigel JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Clifton-Brown) of 27 January,Official Report, column 765, what were the sample sizes used in the new earnings survey for each county council and the Scilly Isles; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Robin Squire[holding answer 4 February 1993]: I have place in the Library a table showing, for each local authority, the total sample size in the New Earning Survey for those occupational groups used in the calculation of the area cost adjustment. The occupational groups included are those thought to be most relevant to the labour markets in which local authorities operate. Because 521W of the need to standardise the results to avoid any distortions which might otherwise arise from differences in the mix of occupations between different local authorities, average wages are calculated for each of 16 occupational groups. The effective sample sizes used in the detailed calculations are, therefore, much smaller than those shown in the table. These samples are too small to allow reliable estimates to be made for individual counties.