Written question asked by James Duddridge (Conservative) on Monday, 21 July 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 6 October 2008. It was answered by Hilary Benn (Labour) on Thursday, 9 October 2008 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Departmental Databases

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what use (a) his Department and (b) its agencies make of (i) MOSAIC data and (ii) ACORN data.

Answer: The DEFRA Survey of Public Attitudes and Behaviours toward the Environment 2007 included both ACORN and MOSAIC in the data coding to facilitate secondary analysis.ACORN and MOSAIC datasets have also been used by third parties working on our behalf, for example, for DEFRA-funded research related to perceptions of quality of life.Further information is not held centrally within DEFRA and to obtain this would incur disproportionate cost.

Secondary information