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 Jil Matheson, dated December 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many vacancies for (a) all jobs (b) jobs of less than 16 hours a week and (c) jobs of 16 to 30 hours a week there were in each region and country of the UK in the latest period for which figures are available (302455).
The Office for National Statistics measures the number of vacancies in the UK using the ONS Vacancy Survey. There were an estimated 428,000 vacancies in the UK in the period August to October 2009 (seasonally adjusted). Estimates of the number of vacancies in regions and countries of the UK are not available from this source.
An alternative source of data is the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. This data only includes job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and so is inconsistent with the UK estimates from the ONS Vacancy Survey, which covers a wider range of vacancies. However, geographical breakdowns of Jobcentre Plus data are available, apart from Northern Ireland.
Neither the ONS Vacancy Survey nor the Jobcentre Plus administrative data give details of whether vacancies are for less than 16 hours a week or between 16 and 30 hours a week. However, the Jobcentre Plus administrative data does give a split between full-time jobs, defined as 30 or more hours a week, and part-time jobs, defined as less than 30 hours a week.
Table 1, attached, shows the number of live unfilled job vacancies held by Jobcentre Plus for each English region, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain for October 2009. The table also shows the number of live unfilled vacancies that are for full-time and for part-time jobs.
Not seasonally adjusted October 2009 Total vacancies Full-time Part-Time North East 10,590 6,920 3,670 North West 35,925 25,322 10,603 Yorkshire and the Humber 23,456 15,818 7,638 East Midlands 28,058 21,500 6,558 West Midlands 27,436 20,101 7,335 East 24,451 16,266 8,185 London 25,695 19,243 6,452 South East 35,731 24,983 10,748 South West 26,293 16,883 9,410 Wales 13,736 9,409 4,327 Scotland 19,335 12,006 7,329 Great Britain 270,706 188,451 82,255 1 Full-time vacancies are for jobs involving 30 or more hours per week, part-time vacancies are for jobs involving less than 30 hours per week. 2 Job vacancies for English regions, Scotland, Wales and Great Britain are live unfilled vacancies from Jobcentre Plus administrative data. These are inconsistent with UK figures from the ONS Vacancy Survey, which covers a wider range of vacancies. Source: Jobcentre Plus Administrative data