The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 9 May 2008:"As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people were unemployed in (a) the London Borough of Enfield and (b) the following wards in the borough: (i) Chase, (ii) Enfield Highway, (iii) Enfield Lock, (iv) Highlands, (v) Southbury, (vi) Town and (vii) Turkey Street in each of the last 10 years. [202864]""The Office for National Statistics produces estimates of total unemployment for unitary and local authorities, from a statistical model, following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions.""Table 1, attached, shows model based estimates of the total number of unemployed, for the Enfield borough. Estimates are obtained for each 12 month period from 1997 to 2004 ending in February. For time series comparisons, the estimates from 2005 to 2007 are provided covering the 12 month periods ending in March, but the most recently released estimate is also included, which covers the 12 months ending in September 2007. Corresponding estimates for local government wards are not available.""As these estimates are for a subset of the population in a small geographical area, they are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty.""It should be noted that the estimate provided is weighted to population estimates consistent with those published in 2003. Reweighted analyses using the latest population estimates, published in summer 2007, will be available from 14 May 2008.""ONS also compiles statistics for local areas of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Table 2, attached, shows the total numbers of people resident in the Enfield borough and the specified wards, claiming JSA. At ward level, data is only available for periods from 2004. In addition, March 2008 data has been included as being the latest data available." Table 1: Number of persons unemployed in Enfield borough for the last 10 years. Thousand 12 months ending Unemployed February 1997 12 February 1998 10 February 1999 10 February 2000 9 February 2001 9 February 2002 8 February 2003 9 February 2004 9 March 2005 9 March 2006 12 March 2007 10 September 2007 9 Source: Annual Labour Force Survey and Annual Population Survey. Table 2: Number of persons claiming Job Seekers Allowance . Enfield Borough Chase Enfield Highway Enfield Lock Highlands Southbury Town Turkey Street February 1997 10,260 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a February 1998 7,869 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a February 1999 7,442 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a February 2000 6,898 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a February 2001 5,744 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a February 2002 5,501 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a February 2003 5,905 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a February 2004 6,081 190 378 340 140 310 159 284 March 2005 6,077 208 347 379 137 262 150 298 March 2006 6,732 212 398 362 165 275 155 315 March 2007 6,153 185 355 347 131 290 122 312 March 2008 5,220 194 328 307 130 251 123 276 n/a = data not available Source: DWP