Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the Office for National Statistics plans to begin publishing data classifying jobs in the labour market based on the new six-digit Extended Standard Occupational Classification 2020 framework rather than the current four-digit Standard Occupational Classification 2020 framework.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

04 April 2024

Dear Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking when the Office for National Statistics (ONS) plans to begin publishing data classifying jobs in the labour market based on the new six-digit Extended Standard Occupational Classification 2020 framework rather than the current four-digit Standard Occupational Classification 2020 framework (HL3670).

The ONS collects information on the labour market status of individuals through the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is a survey of people resident in households in the UK. In addition to their labour market status, working respondents provide a description of their job allowing us to classify their occupation to the appropriate Standard Occupational Classification 2020 (SOC2020) code.

Similarly, the 2021 Census collected information allowing us to identify the labour market status of individuals and classify their occupation in line with SOC2020.

Much of the job information from these sources, collected from respondents, do not contain sufficient detail to give an accurate coding at the six-digit lower-level classification. Consequently, the ONS currently has no plans to publish data at the six-digit SOC2020 level.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond