§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the levels of long-term(a) adult and (b) youth unemployment in Coventry over the last seven years. [178143]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Jim Cunningham, dated 15 June 2004:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about unemployment. (178143)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation definitions. However, the LFS sample size is too small to give reliable estimates of unemployment in the Coventry South Constituency.
ONS also compiles statistics of those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (ISA) for local areas including parliamentary constituencies.
The table below gives total JSA claimants claiming for over 12 months and those aged 18 to 24 years old claiming for over 12 months for the Coventry South constituency. The figures are annual averages for each year since 1997. The data are not seasonally adjusted.
JSA claimants for over 12 months in the Coventry, South constituency annual averages (computerised claims only), 1997–2003 All ages 18 to 24 years 1997 1,033 154 1998 772 90 1999 649 19 2000 450 10 2001 357 11 2002 319 12 2003 306 11