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Bank of England

Mr. Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Government's proposals to implement the transfer to the Treasury of the Bank of England's responsibilities for debt management, the sale of gilts, oversight of the gilts market and cash management. [11625]

Mrs. Liddell: The Government today published a proposal for consultation on the arrangements for Government debt and cash management. We propose to establish an agency of the Treasury to implement the annual borrowing programme, to liaise and deal with participants in the gilts market and to manage the Exchequer's cash position. Copies of the document have been placed in the Library of the House.

Unpaid Work

Mrs. Ballard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what statistics the Office for National Statistics compiles on the value of unpaid work to the economy. [10660]

Mrs. Liddell: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mrs. Jackie Ballard, dated 29 July 1997:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to your recent question on statistics ONS compile on the value of unpaid work to the economy.

ONS publishes no direct estimates of unpaid labour. It plans, however, to publish an experimental account of household production in the ONS publication Economic Trends in the next few months, based on time use surveys. An article describing the approach was published in Economic Trends in July 1996.

The above publication is available in the House of Commons Library.

Strikes

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many working days were lost as a result of strikes in each year between 1974 and 1997. [11348]

Mrs. Liddell: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. John Bercow, dated 29 July 1997:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on how many working days have been lost as a result of strikes in each year between 1974 and 1997.


Annual data are only available up to 1996. Data for 1974 to 1996 are shown in the attached table.

29 Jul 1997 : Column: 132

Number of working days lost in the United Kingdom due to labour disputes

	Working days lost (thousands)
1974	14,750
1975	6,012
1976	3,284
1977	10,142
1978	9,405
1979	29,474
1980	11,964
1981	4,266
1982	5,313
1983	3,754
1984	27,135
1985	6,402
1986	1,920
1987	3,546
1988	3,702
1989	4,128
1990	1,903
1991	761
1992	528
1993	649
1994	278
1995	415
1996	1,303

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many working days have been lost as a result of strikes in each year since 1974. [10887]

Mrs. Liddell [holding answer 28 July 1997]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Philip Hammond, dated 29 July 1997:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on how many working days have been lost as a result of strikes in each year since 1974.

The data requested are in the attached table.

Number of working days lost in the United Kingdom due to labour disputes

	Working days lost (thousands)
1974	14,750
1975	6,012
1976	3,284
1977	10,142
1978	9,405
1979	29,474
1980	11,964
1981	4,266
1982	5,313
1983	3,754
1984	27,135
1985	6,402
1986	1,920
1987	3,546
1988	3,702
1989	4,128
1990	1,903
1991	761
1992	528
1993	649
1994	278
1995	415
1996	1,303

29 Jul 1997 : Column: 133

Health Authority Populations

Mrs. Ballard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the (a) male and (b) female population of each health authority by gender. [10663]

Mrs. Liddell: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mrs. Jackie Ballard, dated 29 July 1997:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as the Director of the Office for National Statistics, to your recent question asking for the population of each health authority by gender. The data you requested are attached.

It is the ONS' policy to publish population estimates rounded to at least the nearest 100 persons. When estimates are provided as they are here, in units, this is in order to facilitate further calculations e.g. mortality rates. Unit estimates cannot be accurate to that level of detail.

Estimated population mid-1995 Health areas that come into effect on 1 April 1996

Regional office health authority	Total persons	Total male	Total female
Bradford	482,694	237,678	245,016
Calderdale and Kirklees	580,963	284,484	296,479
County Durham	607,670	297,874	309,796
East Riding	576,993	283,581	293,412
Gateshead and South Tyneside	358,118	174,512	183,606
Leeds	724,967	357,634	367,333
Newcastle and North Tyneside	477,068	231,970	245,098
North Cumbria	318,081	156,638	161,443
Northumberland	307,296	149,979	157,317
North Yorkshire	730,636	355,352	375,284
Sunderland	295,829	144,201	151,628
Tees	559,160	273,839	285,321
Wakefield	317,148	156,868	160,280
Northern and Yorkshire	6,336,623	3,104,610	3,232,013
Barnsley	226,711	111,395	115,316
Doncaster	292,877	144,511	148,366
Leicestershire	923,001	458,290	464,711
Lincolnshire	611,846	299,089	312,757
North Derbyshire	371,084	183,103	187,981
North Nottinghamshire	391,738	193,815	197,923
Nottingham	640,201	315,722	324,479
Rotherham	255,751	126,469	129,282
Sheffield	528,518	262,356	266,162
Southern Derbyshire	555,060	275,647	279,413
South Humber	312,198	153,495	158,703
Trent	5,108,985	2,523,892	2,585,093
Bedfordshire	545,660	272,079	273,581
Berkshire	783,231	392,439	390,792
Buckinghamshire	665,878	330,396	335,482
Cambridge and Huntingdon	442,390	219,457	222,933
East Norfolk	614,669	301,149	313,520
Northamptonshire	599,284	296,459	302,825
North West Anglia	409,177	202,314	206,863
Oxfordshire	598,354	298,904	299,450
Suffolk	565,809	323,142	333,667
Anglia and Oxford	5,315,452	2,636,339	2,679,113
Barking and Havering	385,789	188,654	197,135
Barnet	312,431	151,757	160,674
Brent and Harrow	455,401	224,815	230,586
Camden and Islington	359,402	174,496	184,906
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow	652,162	321,046	331,116
East and North Hertfordshire	491,050	243,330	247,720
East London and The City	600,575	299,359	301,216
Enfield and Haringey	474,679	233,717	240,962
Hillingdon	245,295	121,379	123,916
Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster	349,165	170,768	178,397
North Essex	878,770	430,861	447,909
Redbridge and Waltham Forest	448,411	219,644	228,767
South Essex	698,739	341,951	356,788
West Hertfordshire	520,167	256,229	263,938
North Thames	6,872,036	3,378,006	3,494,030
Bexley and Greenwich	431,653	210,300	221,353
Bromley	293,385	142,045	151,340
Croydon	330,933	162,133	168,800
East Kent	587,118	283,360	303,758
East Surrey	411,163	200,057	211,106
East Sussex, Brighton and Hove	730,864	346,600	384,264
Kingston and Richmond	315,756	153,722	162,034
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham	733,397	357,216	376,181
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth	618,657	300,743	317,914
West Kent	964,143	474,528	489,615
West Surrey	633,195	311,454	321,741
West Sussex	731,482	350,533	380,949
South Thames	6,781,746	3,292,691	3,489,055
Avon	982,343	484,177	498,166
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	482,688	234,051	248,637
Dorset	678,668	326,998	351,670
Gloucestershire	552,731	272,525	280,206
Isle of Wight	125,111	60,163	64,948
North and East Devon	468,749	225,973	242,776
North and Mid Hampshire	543,260	269,400	273,860
Portsmouth and South East Hampshire	539,007	265,029	273,978
Somerset	481,041	234,626	246,415
Southampton and South West Hampshire	534,407	264,376	270,031
South and West Devon	590,030	286,160	303,870
Wiltshire	590,610	292,677	297,933
South and West	6,568,645	3,216,155	3,352,490
Birmingham	1,017,458	502,404	515,054
Coventry	303,555	149,969	153,586
Dudley	312,453	154,916	157,537
Herefordshire	164,519	80,551	83,968
North Staffordshire	472,199	233,834	238,365
Sandwell	293,701	144,148	149,553
Shropshire	419,880	207,676	212,204
Solihull	202,882	99,220	103,662
South Staffordshire	584,249	290,662	293,587
Walsall	262,770	130,045	132,725
Warwickshire	498,662	246,411	252,251
Wolverhampton	244,335	120,342	123,993
Worcestershire	529,759	260,644	269,115
West Midlands	5,306,422	2,620,822	2,685,600
Bury and Rochdale	389,489	191,519	197,970
East Lancashire	512,864	252,206	260,658
Liverpool	470,826	229,214	241,612
Manchester	432,641	213,111	219,530
Morecambe Bay	308,403	149,808	158,595
North Cheshire	311,196	153,654	157,542
North West Lancashire	466,713	226,720	239,993
St. Helens and Knowsley	333,880	163,160	170,720
Salford and Trafford	448,798	221,029	227,769
Sefton	290,971	138,791	152,180
South Cheshire	666,893	327,403	339,490
South Lancashire	310,255	152,098	158,157
Stockport	290,569	141,810	148,759
West Pennine	473,287	232,244	241,043
Wigan and Bolton	575,228	283,776	291,452
Wirral	331,518	158,557	172,961
North West	6,613,531	3,235,100	3,378,431
Bro Taf	726,893	356,784	370,109
Dyfed Powys	475,558	233,078	242,480
Gwent	556,322	272,751	283,571
Morgannwg	500,911	244,521	256,390
North Wales	657,098	318,360	338,738
Wales	2,916,782	1,425,494	1,491,288

29 Jul 1997 : Column: 135

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