Economy As part of the ONS commitment to develop wider measures of the UK's economy and society than are covered by GDP, natural capital estimates have today been published for 1997 to 2015. Natural capital refers to the UK's natural resources and some of the wide range of benefits that they provide.
The value of the stock of the UK's natural capital was estimated to be worth around £761bn in 2015, equal to 39% of GDP for that year.
The natural capital includes energy (both renewable and non-renewable), minerals, timber, water, agricultural production (excluding farmed animals) and wild caught fish.
Today's figures are only a partial estimate of the value of the UK's natural capital. For example, while they estimate the value UK nature provides as carbon 'sinks' these figures do not estimate the value of nature in regulating water flows to prevent flooding.
Commenting on today's figures, senior economist Emily Connors said:
"While GDP gives a good estimate of the value of the UK's market economy, it does not capture the full value of the UK. Today's figures help paint a wider picture by valuing the UK's countryside and wildlife." Employment and labour market HMRC has published real time tax information for the first time. ONS Head of Labour Market David Freeman explains the significance of this milestone and writes about how ONS plans to use these data to transform its own labour market statistics.
"While the figures produced by ONS remain the lead measures for the labour market, the publication of these experimental statistics is a very welcome and important first step. We aim to integrate administrative data, such as RTI, into the production of our labour market statistics over the next couple of years. This will help us to produce faster, better and much more detailed estimates of changes in employment and earnings. This release today gives us a first indication of some of the challenges we'll face using administrative data to meet existing user needs. It also shows the huge potential of using such a data set in the production of our statistics." People, population and community Children aged 8 to 15 in the UK spent just over an hour (68 minutes) of their leisure time on average per day taking part in an outdoors activity, sports related activity or travelling on foot or by bicycle. Children spent 3 times longer on sports and exercise activities (33 minutes) than entertainment and culture activities (11 minutes). Boys spent on average 40 minutes per day on sports activities compared to 25 minutes for girls. The average amount of leisure time children spent in parks, countryside, seaside, beach or coastal locations was 16 minutes per day. Children reported greater enjoyment ratings when taking part in entertainment and culture activities (6.4 out of 7) and sports and exercise activities (6.3) than for other outdoor activities. Senior ONS Statistician, Dawn Snape said: "This is the first time ONS has looked at how children are spending their leisure time on sports and outdoor activities. Of their outdoor leisure activities, taking part in sport is by far the most popular among 8 to 15 year olds. Boys spend significantly longer than girls on sport but interestingly, boys and girls who do participate in sport, enjoy it equally." | 
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