§ Mr. GoodmanTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of unemployment in the Wycombe constituency was in(a) September 2000 and (b) September 2001. [14877]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Paul Goodman, dated 19 November 2001:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question about the level of unemployment in the Wycombe constituency in September 2000 and September 2001 (14877).The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics for unemployment from surveys following the standard International Labour Organisation definition. However, for the Wycombe parliamentary constituency the survey sample size is too small to provide estimates.ONS also compiles statistics of claimants of unemployment-related benefits. The claimant count consists of all people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or National Insurance credits at Employment Service local offices. They must declare that they are out of work, 143W capable of, available for and actively seeking work during the week in which the claim is made.Between September 2000 and September 2001 the claimant count level in the Wycombe parliamentary constituency rose by 108 from 1,403 to 1,151.