§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Employment (Viscount Ullswater)My Lords, I should like to make a personal statement regarding the question from the noble Lord, Lord Dorm and of Easington, during Starred Questions on Thursday, 17th October. In response to a supplementary question from my noble friend Lord Boyd-Carpenter about the number of people in employment (Col. 1215 of the Official Report) I said that the workforce in employment stood at 26,177,000. I also said that this figure did not include the 1.4 million increase in the number of self-employed since 1979.
I regret that the latter part of that statement was incorrect. The workforce in employment does include the 1.4 million increase in the number of self-employed. I apologise for any misunderstanding I may have caused.