HL Deb 24 October 1973 vol 345 c735WA
BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGER

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the number of firms in Great Britain with more than 10 and less than 100 employees, and how many persons are employed in these firms.

LORD DRUMALBYN

I regret that the information is not available. However, some indication can be derived from the census of employment. The units in the census do not correspond precisely with firms, owing to the register on which the census is based. The census units are either complete addresses or, less often, parts of addresses. They are therefore more numerous and on average smaller than firms, which, though frequently consisting of single addresses, can comprise more than one address. In June, 1972, there were just over 200,000 census units in Great Britain with from 11 to 99 employees, and together they employed just over 6 million workers. These figures do not include employees in agriculture and private domestic service.