§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many households, broken down by(a) class, (b) age and (c) region, have a PC; and what figures he has collated on other major European countries in terms of rates of household and work place access to the internet. [55873]
§ Ruth KellyI 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 Dr. Ashok Kumar, dated 15 May 2002:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary questions regarding information on British household computer ownership broken down by (a) social class, (b) age and (c) region, and rates of household and workplace access to the Internet in major European countries. (55873)The tables below show the most recently available percentages of households in Great Britain with a home computer broken down by social class of head of household (table 1), age of head of household (table 2) and region and country of Great Britain (table 3). The latest headline estimate is that 49 per cent. of households in the UK had a home computer in the quarter October to December 2001. A more detailed analysis has to be based on a full sample over a 12-month period.
Table 1: Percentage of households in Great Britain with a home computer by social class of head of household; April 2000 to March 2001 Social class of head of household Percentage Professional etc. 80 Managerial and technical 70 Skilled non-manual 55 Skilled manual 47 Partly skilled occupations 39 Unskilled occupations 24 All households 45 Source:
Family Expenditure Survey, 2000–01
Table 2: Percentage of households in Great Britain with a home computer by age of head of household; April 2000 to March 2001 Age of head of household (years) Percentage Under 30 44 30 and under 50 61 50 and under 65 48 65 and under 75 23 75 or over 7 All households 45 Source:
Family Expenditure Survey, 2000–01
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Table 3: Percentage of households with a home computer by Government Office regions and countries of GB; April 2000 to March 2001 Government Office region and country of GB Percentage North East 37 North West 42 Yorkshire and the Humber 41 East Midlands 43 West Midlands 44
Table 3: Percentage of households with a home computer by Government Office regions and countries of GB; April 2000 to March 2001 Government Office region and country of GB Percentage East 47 London 50 South East 50 South West 51 England 46 Wales 38 Scotland 37 Great Britain 45 Source:
Family Expenditure Survey, 2000–01
Table 4 below shows the percentage of households and enterprises with Internet access for major European countries for 2000, the latest available consistent estimates.
Table 4: Percentage of households and enterprises with Internet access for major European countries; 2000 Percentage Country Households with Internet access1 Enterprises with Internet access2 United Kingdom 32 63 Sweden 54 90 Germany 27 67 France 12 3— Italy 15 66 1Source: UK—Family Expenditure Survey (April 2000 to March 2001); Sweden and Germany—Eurobarometer; France and Italy—National Statistics Institutes. 2Source: Eurostat co-ordinated e-Commerce surveys 2000. Enterprises with 10 or more employees. Richard Deiss (2002): "e-Commerce in Europe, Statistics in Focus". 3Not available Like all estimates from sample surveys the figures presented are subject to sampling variability. This is greater for sub-groups of the population than for national estimates.