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Treasury; Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions the Office for National Statistics has had with Southend primary care trust on the number of patients registered in Southend. [224918] Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply. Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Amess, dated 7 April 2005: As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what discussions the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has had with Southend Primary Care Trust on the number of patients registered in Southend. (224918) ONS has not had any discussions with Southend Primary Care Trust regarding the number of patients registered in Southend. ONS have had several meetings with representatives of Southend- on-Sea Borough Council since Southend-on-Sea was one of the areas that was selected for study as part of the 2004 Local Authority Studies. These studies were carried out to improve population estimates in the areas that proved hardest to count in the 2001 Census in England and Wales. The results of these studies showed that better estimates of the population could be made in 15 areas, however for the great majority of areas, including Southend-on-Sea, the previously published 2001 Census based population estimate remains the best estimate of the population. As part of these studies ONS reviewed the evidence for all 376 Local Authorities to identify where population estimates may have been at risk. Patient registers were one of several administrative data sources that were used as part of the process to select areas for study. Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have provided analysis to ONS which includes comparisons between the number of patients registered with a doctor in Southend-on-Sea and the population estimates. We would not expect these two data sources to be the same since patient registers are not designed to measure population.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c1570W;432 c1566-7W; 224918

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Patients Population Office for National Statistics Statistics Southend on Sea

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk