I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK 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 Parliamentary Question asking how many job vacancies there were in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency. (263799)
The Office for National Statistics estimates the number of vacancies from the Vacancy Survey, however estimates below UK are not available from this source.
An alternative source of information on job vacancies is administrative data from Jobcentre Plus. This data only includes job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and consequently is inconsistent with the UK estimates from the Vacancy Survey, however geographical breakdowns of this data are available.
Table 1 attached, shows the number of live unfilled job vacancies held by Jobcentre Plus for Cumbria and Copeland constituency, in February 2009, the most recent period for which figures are available. Figures from Jobcentre Plus for Great Britain, along with three month averages for the UK from the Vacancy Survey have also been included for comparison.
Not seasonally adjusted Copeland Cumbria GB February 2009 124 1,290 239,000 Source: Jobcentre Plus Administrative Data.
UK December to February 2009 482,000 1 Job vacancies for Copeland parliamentary constituency and Cumbria are live unfilled vacancies from the Jobcentre Plus administrative data. These are inconsistent with the UK figures from the ONS Vacancy Survey. Source: Vacancy Survey, ONS.