§ Lord Selkirk of Douglasasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the percentage of households in Scotland owning a car for each year from 1979 to date. [HL1996]
10WAWhat was the percentage of households in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland owning a car for each year from 1979 to date. [HL1997]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Office for National Statistics who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Lord Selkirk of Douglas from the Director of the Office for National Statistics, Mr. Tim Holt, dated 29 May 1998.
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary questions on the percentage of households owning a car in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The attached table shows information from the Family Expenditure Survey for the period from 1979. The figures relate to those households owning or having continuous use of at least one car or van. The data are subject to sampling errors, so while general trends can be seen, care should be taken in interpreting short-term changes in the data.
Percentage of households with one or more cars or vans, 1978–97 England Wales Scotland Northern Ireland 1978–79 58 62 52 51 1979–80 60 61 49 52 1980–81 62 61 51 54 1981–82 62 63 54 54 1982–83 63 64 52 54 1983–84 63 65 49 55 1984–85 63 68 52 58 1985–86 64 66 53 59 1986–87 64 65 51 58 1987–88 66 67 53 62 1988–89 67 69 55 60 1989–90 68 67 57 63 1990–91 69 65 58 65 1992 69 63 57 63 1993 70 72 58 66 1994–95 70 66 63 63 1995–96 70 70 64 67 1996–97 70 69 63 60 Data for years 1978–79 to 1990–91 cover a period of two calendar years.
Data for years 1992 and 1993 relate to single calendar years.
Data for 1994–95 to 1996–97 relate to single financial years.
ONS, Family Expenditure Survey.