The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 19 February 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about how many and the proportion of people of working age with less than 5 GCSEs at A-C grade or equivalent in each region in each year since 1997. (186828)
The answer was compiled using estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). This is a sample survey covering around 53,000 households in the United Kingdom.
The attached table gives the number and percentage of people of working age in the category requested for the three month period ending June each year, from 2001 to
2007.
Comparable estimates are not available prior to 2001. These estimates have not been seasonally adjusted.
The LFS estimates at this detailed level are only consistent with the UK population estimates published in February and March 2003 and they do not incorporate the more recent population estimates that are used in the headline LFS series.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
UK North-east North-west Yorkshire and the Humber East midlands West midlands East Level (Thousand) 2001 12,612 573 1,368 1,134 979 1,241 1,145 2002 14,151 632 1,665 1,243 1,049 1,371 1,288 2003 13,900 630 1,604 1,215 1,043 1,344 1,270 2004 13,599 616 1,522 1,172 986 1,325 1,243 2005 13,447 569 1,510 1,237 992 1,251 1,253 2006 13,167 546 1,480 1,204 984 1,245 1,228 2007 13,194 544 1,477 1,197 1,018 1,236 1,273 Percentage 2001 40 43 39 43 44 45 40 2002 39 41 41 41 41 43 40 2003 38 41 39 40 41 42 39 2004 38 41 37 39 38 42 38 2005 37 37 37 41 38 39 38 2006 36 36 36 39 38 39 37 2007 36 36 36 39 39 39 38
London South-east South-west Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Level (Thousand) 2001 1,635 1,582 929 646 1,007 373 2002 1,908 1,691 1,078 720 1,109 398 2003 1,935 1,686 1,045 664 1,081 382 2004 1,949 1,657 1,032 653 1,042 403 2005 1,971 1,603 997 676 980 407 2006 1,865 1,628 956 664 985 381 2007 1,875 1,599 963 647 971 395 Percentage 2001 40 37 36 43 37 42 2002 41 35 37 42 35 39 2003 41 35 36 38 35 37 2004 41 34 35 38 33 39 2005 41 32 34 39 31 39 2006 38 33 32 38 32 36 2007 38 32 32 36 31 37 1 Men aged 16-64 and women aged to 16-59 2 When calculating percentage those with unknown qualifications are excluded. 3 Includes all those of working age in employment with qualifications below NVQ level 2. including those with no qualifications. 4 Qualifications below NVQ level 2 is equivalent to fewer than five GCSEs. Note: Comparable data not available for 1997,1998, 1999 and 2000 Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS)