The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated November 2008:"As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question requesting how many (a) men and (b) women were in work in (i) Hemel Hempstead and (ii) the UK in May of each year since 1997. (238186)""The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles employment statistics for local areas from the annual labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. National estimates are compiled from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).""Table 1, attached, shows the number of people in employment aged 16 and over by gender, resident in the Hemel Hempstead constituency. As estimates are not available for May of each year for small geographies, estimates are provided for the 12 months ending in February from 1998 to 2004 from the annual LFS, and for the 12 months ending in March from 2005 to 2008, from the APS.""Table 2, attached, shows the number of people in employment aged 16 and over by gender, resident in the UK. Estimates are provided for the April to June period of each year from the LFS.""As these estimates are for a subset of the population in small geographical areas, they are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty." Table 1: Number of persons in employment¹ by gender, resident in Hemel Hempstead parliamentary constituency Thousand Hemel Hempstead 12 months ending: Male Female February 1998 26 22 February 1999 27 24 February 2000 25 23 February 2001 27 23 February 2002 27 24 February 2003 29 26 February 2004 29 27 March 2005 27 26 March 2006 24 22 March 2007 29 20 March 2008² ***30 ***26 ¹ Levels of employment are provided for persons aged 16 and over. The figures presented are weighted to population estimates published in 2007. ² Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality following. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV< 5 Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes Source: Annual Labour Force Survey/Annual Population Survey Table 2: Number of persons in employment¹ by gender, resident in UK Thousand UK Male Female April to June 1997 14,441 12,073 April to June 1998 14,571 12,145 April to June 1999 14,735 12,362 April to June 2000 14,900 12,568 April to June 2001 15,002 12,704 April to June 2002 15,073 12,838 April to June 2003 15,298 12,893 April to June 2004 15,371 13,057 April to June 2005 15,515 13,218 April to June 2006 15,628 13,371 April to June 2007 15,792 13,367 April to June 2008² *15,938 *13,568 ¹ Levels of employment are provided for persons aged 16 and over. ² Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality following. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. KEY Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV< 5 Estimates are considered precise ** 5 = CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 = CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes Source: Labour Force Survey