§ Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list those wards, grouped by counties and unitary wards or metropolitan authorities, in England and Wales whose boundaries contain estuaries, rivers and inland shore waters; what the percentage is of the area of each such ward that is comprised of water measured, where applicable, from the high water mark; and what effect such measurement has on the way in which population(a) density and (b) sparsity is measured for official statistical purposes. [85950]
§ Jahn HealeyI have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Stephen O'Brien, dated 10 December 2002:
As National Statistician I am replying to your recent question on wards whose boundaries contain estuaries, rivers and inland shore waters. (85950)The Office for National Statistics (ONS) can provide the information requested on the percentage of the area of electoral wards/divisions and local authorities in England and Wales which comprise inland water. Information on the effect these measurements have on the population density is not available.ONS has recently received area measurements produced by the Ordnance Survey for Great Britain using their 1:10,000 scale 2001 Boundary Line product (boundaries as at May 2001). Early next year, these measurements will be made available on the National Statistics website (www.statistics.gov.uk). However if the request is urgent, ONS is willing to provide an extract on CD-ROM which will list three measurements and the percentage of inland water for all electoral wards/divisions and local authorities in England and Wales. The three measurements will be:area to Mean High Water: defined as the total area of an administrative unit measured in hectares and includes all tracts of inland water; where the administrative area is bounded by tidal water it is measured to Mean High Water mark.area of inland water: defined as the surface area of inland water areas exceeding 1sq kin within the area to Mean High Water, measured in hectares, within the administrative unit. Inland water includes features such as lakes and reservoirs; rivers, canals and streams are not included in this area measurement.land area: area to Mean High Water excluding area of inland water.Population density figures and land area measurements will be published as part of the 2001 Census Key Statistics during April 2003. The land area measurement has been used in accordance with the Eurostat directive.If a CD-Rom giving the above information is required, you should contact Alan Taylor at our Titchfield office on 01329 813536.
There are no plans to provide population density figures based on other area measurements.