To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product was attributable to the City in 2007–08; and how they define the City for that purpose. [HL1574]

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

Letter from Karen Dunnell, National Statistician, to Lord Roberts of Conwy, dated March 2009.

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Question about the proportion of UK gross domestic product attributable to the City of London. (HL 1574)

The Office for National Statistics does not publish regional GDP but does publish estimates of regional gross value added (GVA), which is the same as GDP except for excluding taxes on products and including subsidies on products.

Regional GVA is produced using official statistical geographies known as nomenclature of units for territorial statistics (NUTS). This nomenclature provides a single uniform breakdown for the production of regional statistics for the European Union. Regional GVA data are produced at three levels of NUTS in the UK. These are:

NUTS1: Government Office Regions of England and the devolved Administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland;

NUTS2: 37 areas—sometimes referred to as sub- regions; and

NUTS3: 133 areas—generally groups of unitary authorities or districts, also known as local areas.

NUTS3 boundaries (the lowest level at which the ONS publishes regional GVA) do not directly correspond to the City of London, so we are unable to provide data at the geographical detail you require.