§ Mr. TruswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what use his Department and its agencies make of postcode areas for(a) the collection and publication of data, (b) devising formulae for the distribution of grants and awards and (c) the delivery of services; and when such usages were last reviewed. [87742]
§ Mr. JamiesonPostcode area data are not used widely across the Department and its agencies. The contractors who carry out the Department's National Travel Survey use the 'small user' Postcode Address File as its sampling frame, although final data are only published at Government Office Region or combined county level. The Survey of Privately Owned Vans, begun in October 2002, also uses postcode areas as the basis for collecting data. The sample size is too small to enable publication at postcode level but it is planned to publish regional results.