§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people were unemployed in the Taunton constituency in each year since 1979 according to the International Labour Organisation definition. [134319]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Jackie Ballard, dated 30 October 2000:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the number of people unemployed in the Taunton constituency in each year since 1979 according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition.The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the main source of labour market data on individuals used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, estimates for the number of people ILO unemployed are not available for small areas such as the constituency of Taunton.The measure of unemployment derived from the LFS is defined on a consistent and Internationally recognised basis set out by the ILO. It counts as unemployed people who are a) without a paid job, b) available to start work within the next two weeks and c) have either looked for work in the last four weeks or are waiting to start a job already obtained. This measure has been used in the LFS from 1984 onwards.ONS also publishes the monthly numbers of people who are claiming unemployment-related benefits, also known as the Claimant Count. Comparable figures (based on the 1995 boundaries) are available since 1996. The attached table gives the annual average levels of claimants in the Taunton parliamentary constituency since 1996.Information on the unadjusted claimant level by parliamentary constituency ward based on the 1981 wards are available monthly from June 1983 to January 1996 and can be obtained from the Nomis database in the House of Commons Library.
The annual average levels of claimants in the Taunton parliamentary constituency Year Number Rate 1996 2,975 5.2 1997 2,195 3.9 1998 1,722 3.0 1999 1,503 2.5 Average for the nine months Jan to Sep 2000 is 1,184 (2.0 per cent.).