The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated October 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question what the rate of youth unemployment was in each (a) Constituency, (b) Local Authority and (c) Region in each of the last 10 years. (228728)
Information in the form requested is not readily available and could only be compiled at disproportionate cost.
It is possible to access information on unemployment within age groups and by constituency, local authority and region from the Office for National Statistics Nomis® website: www.nomisweb.co.uk. This would involve creating a timeseries by combining estimates from the Annual Population Survey, Local Area Labour Force Survey and Labour Force Survey—Annual. However, much of the data that could be obtained regarding small area youth unemployment would be suppressed on the grounds of disclosure or quality.
Alternatively, counts of people aged 16-24 years claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) are also available at constituency, local authority and regional level from Nomis®.
Please note the JSA data available on the Nomis® Website differ from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of unemployment.