Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the Office for Statistics Regulation's publication entitled OSR’s statement on the Labour Force Survey-derived estimates and Annual Population Survey-derived estimates, published on 12 December 2024.

Data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) remains subject to a number of quality concerns following a fall in response rates and are currently badged as official statistics in development.

As set out in its December 2024 Labour Market Overview,[1] the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recommend using LFS data alongside other labour market indicators, including Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real-Time Information (RTI) and Workforce Jobs (WFJ).

The ONS are continuing to improve the quality of the LFS, as described in its latest report LFS performance and quality monitoring report,[2] and have carried out a reweighting of LFS estimates, detailed in its December 2024 article[3], that has brought them into line with the ONS’ latest population numbers. The ONS is continuing to develop the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) as the long-term solution for collecting labour market data [4].

1 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/december2024

2 LFS performance and quality monitoring report: July to September 2024

3 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/impactofreweightingonlabourforcesurveykeyindicators/december2024

4 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/labourmarkettransformationupdateonprogressandplans/july2024