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Public Houses

Volume 488: debated on Friday 6 March 2009

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many people were employed in the (a) brewing and (b) public house sectors in each year since 1998. (260494)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people were employed in the (a) brewing and (b) public house sectors in each year since 1998. (260494)

The available information for people aged 16 and over is provided in the attached table.

The estimates are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). These estimates are based on the respondents' views about the organisation for which they work.

As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.

The figures have been derived from the LFS microdata which are weighted using the official population estimates published in autumn 2007. Consequently the 2008 estimate is not entirely consistent with the figures published in the monthly Labour Market Statistics First Release, which are weighted using more up-to-date population estimates.

People aged 16 and over in employment by industry—Three month period ending December, 1998 to 2008, United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted

Thousand

Brewing1

Public house2

1998

45

256

1999

39

254

2000

34

232

2001

29

241

2002

32

253

2003

34

244

2004

34

262

2005

23

252

2006

23

252

2007

27

263

2008'

***24

**211

1 Comprises Standard Industrial Classification (92)—15960 Manufacture of beer. 2 Comprises Standard Industrial Classification (92)—55402 Public houses and bars. 3 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates, as described as follows: 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 [le] CV <5 Estimates are considered precise. ** 5 [le] CV <10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. *** 10 [le] CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV ≥ 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Note: It should be noted that the above estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (eg hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.) Source: Labour Force Survey.

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimate he has made of the number of public houses which have closed in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. (261070)

The information requested falls within the remit of the UK National Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated March 2009:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what estimate has been made of the number of public houses which have closed in each of the last 10 years for which figures arc available; and to make a statement. (261070)

Annual statistics on business births, deaths and survival are available from the ONS release on Business Demography. Data on business deaths is only available back as far as 2002 in this series. The table below contains the count of enterprise deaths of public houses for 2002-2007.

Table showing counts of Enterprise ‘deaths’ within Public Houses SICs for the years 2002-07

Standard Industrial Classification

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

55402—Independent public houses and bars

5,530

6,775

6,875

6,175

5,300

5,260

55403—Tenanted public houses and bars

2,150

2,610

2,950

2,590

2,310

2,340

55404—Managed public houses and bars

130

200

255

315

345

350

Total

7,810

9,585

10,080

9,080

7,955

7,950