HC Deb 07 June 1995 vol 261 cc208-9W
Mr. McLoughlin

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will list in ascending order the difference between income and expenditure for school meal services for all counties over the last seven years. [27305]

Mr. Robin Squire

The table gives the total net expenditure on the school catering service for all counties from 1987–88 to 1993–94, the latest year for which figures are available. The figures are not necessarily comparable because over the seven years returns were not received from all authorities.

Mr. Oppenheim

The working party on the measurement of unemployment in the UK, set up by the Royal Statistical Society in June 1994, was commissioned by the council of the RSS to investigate the validity of the methods by which unemployment is measured in the UK, and to report back to the RSS. The working party received the support of both my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and Her Majesty's Opposition. The only cost to public funds involved the time devoted by Ministers and officials to providing the RSS with information.