§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the statistics that are collected by his Department by English parliamentary constituency; and if he will make a statement. [67095]
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§ Mr. Bob Ainsworth[holding answer 8 July 2002]The Home Department undertakes a wide range of research activities that support the development of information-led policy, including scientific and engineering research, market and opinion research and social research. My Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (RDS) conducts social research supporting all seven Home Office aims. However, RDS do not collect statistics at parliamentary constituency level for a number of reasons. In particular, many of the statistics collected locally are based on administrative areas, such as local and police authorities, and these do not always share boundaries with parliamentary constituencies.
In the past, following each United Kingdom (UK) Parliamentary General Election a House of Commons Paper compiled by RDS was laid before Parliament in the form of a Return to an Address, and similarly, after each European Parliamentary Election a Home Office Statistical Bulletin was published by RDS. Each publication contained statistics of individual candidates' Election Expenses (except for the bulletin covering the 1999 European Parliamentary elections where, because of the voting system used, individual candidates did not have control over their expenses). Both publications also contained details, by UK Parliamentary or European Parliamentary constituency, of rejected ballot papers, postal and proxy votes, and votes polled. The responsibility for compiling and publishing these figures passed on 1 December 2000 to the Electoral Commission.
The full list of RDS publications is available on the Home Office website and copies are also placed in the Library.
May I also refer you to the letter sent to you on 8 July 2002 by the National Statistician in which he stated that the Office for National Statistics do not collect statistics at parliamentary constituency level.