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17 Jun 2004 : Column 1037W—continued

Employment

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of (a) men, (b) women and (c) men and women in total of working age were in employment in each quarter since 1984. [177958]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Willetts, dated 17 June 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about employment. (177958)

The attached table gives the available rates of working age employment by gender for 3 month periods since 1984. These estimates, from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), have been seasonally adjusted. Estimates are only available for a single 3 month period of the years 1984 to 1991 inclusive.

As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to sampling variability.

 
17 Jun 2004 : Column 1038W
 

Working age employment rates1,2 by sex—1984 to 2004, for three month periods as shown

United Kingdom			Per cent.
Three month period (ending in month shown)	All people of working age	Males aged 16–64	Females aged 16–59
1984—May	68.8	77.9	58.7
1986—May	69.6	78.3	60.1
1986—May	69.7	77.8	60.9
1987—May	70.4	78.1	62.1
1968—May	72.7	80.5	64.2
1989—May	74.5	82.2	66.1
1990—May	74.9	82.4	66.8
1991—May	73.2	799	66.0
1992
May	71.2	76.5	65.4
August	70.8	76.2	65.1
November	70.6	75.6	65.2
1993
February	70.3	75.2	65.0
May	70.3	75.0	65.2
August	70.3	75.1	65.1
November	70.4	75.2	65.1
1994
February	70.4	75.4	65.1
May	70.7	75.6	65.4
August	70.8	75.8	65.6
November	71.0	76.1	65.5
1995
February	71.0	76.1	65.6
May	71.2	76.4	65.8
August	71.5	76.5	66.1
November	71.6	76.5	66.3
1996
February	71.8	76.6	66.7
May	71.8	76.6	66.7
August	71.9	76.8	66.7
November	72.2	77.1	67.0
1997
February	72.5	77.5	67.2
May	72.7	77.7	67.4
August	72.8	77.9	67.4
November	73.1	78.2	67.6
1998
February	73.2	78.5	67.6
May	73.3	78.4	67.9
August	73.6	78.7	68.2
November	73.7	78.7	68.5
1999
February	73.9	78.8	687
May	73.8	78.7	68.6
August	74.0	79.0	688
November	74.2	79.1	68.9
2000
February	74,2	791	69.0
May	74.4	79.4	69.1
August	74.7	79.4	69.6
November	74.4	79.2	69.2
2001
February	74.6	79.5	69.5
May	74.6	79.5	69.4
August	74.5	79.3	69.3
November	74.5	792	69.4
2002
February	74.4	79.1	69.4
May	74.4	79.0	696
August	74.5	79.0	69.7
November	74.6	79.3	697
2003
February	74.6	79.2	69.7
May	74.7	79.3	69.7
August	74.6	79.3	69.5
November	74.6	79.1	69.7
2004
February	74.9	79.5	70.1

⁽⁵⁾ Working age people in employment as a percentage of the working age population in the relevant gender group.
⁽⁶⁾ Seasonally adjusted
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey




 
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Equitable Life

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received about Equitable Life. [179131]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Bracknell (Mr. Mackay) earlier today in the House.

EU Unemployment Rates

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the latest Eurostat figures for state unemployment rates among young people in each EU country are. [177970]

Ruth Kelly [holding answer 10 June 2004]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Willetts, dated 17 June 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about unemployment amongst young people in the UK and other EU countries. (177970)

The table overleaf gives the latest Eurostat figures for seasonally adjusted unemployment rates amongst young people, defined as 16–24 year olds for the UK and 15–24 year olds for other countries. UK data are taken from the latest UK Labour Force Survey results published in May 2004. Data for other countries are taken from Eurostat's Unemployment Press Release published on 2 June 2004. In some cases, these figures may appear more up-to-date than the UK figure; however, as the table illustrates, these more recent figures are often based on modelled extrapolation of the data from the most recent Labour Force Surveys in each country, rather than on direst survey measurement.
Unemployment rates (seasonally adjusted) for young people in the UK and other EU countries⁽⁷⁾

Country	Latest Labour Force Survey reference period supplied to Eurostat—period ending	Reference period for extrapolated Eurostat estimates	Unemployment rate (Percentage)
Austria	June 2003	April 2004	7.3
Belgium	December 2003	April 2004	22.0
Cyprus	June 2003	April 2004	9.6
Czech Republic	December 2003	April 2004	20.0
Denmark	December 2003	March 2004	10.5
Estonia	December 2003	April 2004	20.3
Finland	December 2003	April 2004	20.6
France	December 2003	April 2004	20.7
Germany	June 2003	April 2004	11.1
Greece	December 2003	December 2003	27.1
Hungary	December 2003	April 2004	12.8
Ireland	December 2003	April 2004	8.1
Italy	December 2003	January 2004	27.1
Spain	December 2003	April 2004	22.5
Latvia	December 2003	April 2004	17.3
Lithuania	December 2003	April 2004	23.8
Luxembourg	March 2003	April 2004	12.1
Malta	December 2003	April 2004	21.2
Netherlands	December 2003	March 2004	9.0
Poland	December 2003	April 2004	39.6
Portugal	December 2003	April 2004	15.4
Slovak Republic	December 2003	April 2004	29.3
Slovenia	December 2003	April 2004	15.7
Sweden	December 2003	April 2004	16.1
United Kingdom	March 2004(8)	Not applicable	(8)11.8

⁽⁷⁾ As published by Eurostat, 2 June 2004.
⁽⁸⁾ UK estimate published by Office for National Statistics on 12 May 2004 for the period January to March 2004.



 
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G8 Summit (Scotland)

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he intends to make specific funding available for security arrangements for the G8 summit in Scotland next year. [179204]

Mr. Boateng: It is too early to say what the actual costs will be. The Treasury and Scottish Executive will assess and agree what the additional costs are. Extra funds will be made available by the UK Government to help meet the agreed additional policing costs.

Housing Stock Transfer

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what stamp duty is payable on large-scale voluntary stock transfer of council housing. [179112]

Ruth Kelly: Section 71 of Finance Act 2003 exempts such transfers from Stamp Duty Land Tax provided the transfer is to a Registered Social Landlord.

Life Expectancy

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what life expectancy in the UK was in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) region, (b) sex and (c) social class. [178935]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Mike Hancock, dated 17 June 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what life expectancy in the UK was in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) region, (b) sex and (c) social class. (178935)

Figures for life expectancy at birth for the UK and its constituent countries are published annually by the Government Actuary's Department. Figures for life expectancy at birth for English regions are published annually by ONS. Both sets of figures are based on three-year rolling averages and are calculated separately for males and females. The most recent available figures are for 2000–02. Figures covering the years requested are given in the attached tables 1 and 2.

Figures by social class are derived using the ONS Longitudinal Study. This is a 1 per cent. sample of the population and therefore annual comparisons cannot be made reliably. The most recent available figures are for 1997–99 and are provided in the attached table 3.

 
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Table 1: Life expectancy at birthUnited Kingdom and constituent countries, since the period 1996–98

	Life expectancy in yearsThree-year rolling averages
Area	1996–98	1997–99	1998–2000	1999–01	2000–02
Male
United Kingdom	74.50	74.73	75.00	75.33	75.68
England	74.76	74.99	75.28	75.62	75.97
Wales	74.24	74.36	74.66	74.92	75.41
Scotland	72.40	72.64	72.84	73.10	73.31
Northern Ireland	74.16	74.27	74.48	74.79	75.20
Female
United Kingdom	79.56	79.69	79.90	80.13	80.39
England	79.76	79.89	80.10	80.34	80.60
Wales	79.28	79.36	79.59	79.80	80.08
Scotland	78.04	78.18	78.35	78.56	78.78
Northern Ireland	79.49	79.46	79.55	79.75	80.13

Source:
Government Actuary's Department (http://www.gad.gov.uk/Life Tables/lnterim Life tables.htm)





Table 2: Life expectancy at birthGovernment Office Regions in England, since the period 1996–98

	Life expectancy in yearsThree-year rolling averages
Area	1996–98	1997–99	1998–2000	1999–01	2000–02
Male
North East	73.2	73.5	73.8	74.2	74.5
North West	73.4	73.5	73.8	74.1	74.5
Yorkshire and The Humber	74.2	74.4	74.7	75.1	75.4
East Midlands	74.9	75.1	75.3	75.7	76.1
West Midlands	74.5	74.6	74.8	75.1	75.4
East of England	76.1	76.3	76.5	76.8	77.0
London	74.4	74.8	75.0	75.4	75.7
South East	76.1	76.3	76.6	76.9	77.2
South West	76.0	76.4	76.6	76.9	77.1
Female
North East	78.4	78.5	78.7	79.0	79.3
North West	78.5	78.6	78.9	79.1	79.4
Yorkshire and The Humber	79.3	79.5	79.7	80.0	80.2
East Midlands	79.8	79.9	80.1	80.3	80.5
West Midlands	79.6	79.7	79.8	80.0	80.3
East of England	80.7	80.8	81.0	81.2	81.4
London	79.9	80.0	80.3	80.5	80.7
South East	80.7	80.9	81.1	81.3	81.5
South West	81.0	81.1	81.3	81.5	81.7

Source:
Office for National Statistics (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=8841)





Table 3: Life expectancy at birth by social classEngland and Wales, period 1997–99

		Life expectancy in years Three-year rolling average
	Social class	Male	Female
I	Professional	78.5	82.8
II	Managerial and technical/intermediate	77.5	81.5
III N	Skilled non-manual	76.2	81.2
III M	Skilled manual	74.7	79.2
IV	Partly skilled	72.7	78.5
V	Unskilled	71.1	77.1

Source:
Donkin A, Goldblatt P and Lynch K. (2002) Inequalities in life expectancy by social class, 1972–1999. Health Statistics Quarterly 15, 5–15.





 
17 Jun 2004 : Column 1043W
 

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