HC Deb 04 November 1996 vol 284 cc357-9W
Mr. Hall

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the implications of the pensions ombudsman's recent findings in respect of

designated as economically inactive but are not included in unemployed claimant count figures, within the age groups (a) 16 to 24, (b) 25 to 49 and (c) over 50. [1143]

Mrs. Angela Knight

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Dennis Roberts to Mr. Ian McCartney, dated 4 November 1996: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked the Director of the Office for National Statistics to reply to your recent question asking for a breakdown by region, gender and age group of those people who are economically inactive, who would like a job but are not included in the unemployment claimant count figures. The Director has asked me to reply in his absence. According to the spring 1996 Labour Force Survey there were 7,770,000 people of working age in the United Kingdom who were classified as economically inactive. Of these 2,335,000 said they would like a job, but were not classified as ILO unemployed either because they had not sought work in the past four weeks and/or they were not available to start work in the next two weeks. The main reasons given for not seeking work were that the respondent was long term sick/disabled, looking after their family/home or was a student. 2,164,000 of the total of 2,335,000 said that they were not claiming unemployment related benefits though this may be overestimated by up to 10 per cent as the LFS generally under-records people claiming unemployment-related benefits. Further details are contained in the article on page 464 of the October 1993 Employment Gazette a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library. The UK total figure is disaggregated for the analysis in the attached table.

breaches of trust relating to payments made from the National Bus Company employers' superannuation scheme for similar payments to the Treasury from the pension schemes of Government assets prior to their privatisation. [1085]

Mr. Waldegrave

I am not aware of any implications for other privatisations.