§ Mr. John Evansasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many individuals are working in the building industry in the North-West of England to the latest available date; and how this compares with the figure to the same date last year.
§ Mr. KaufmanComprehensive statistics are not available of total manpower in the building industry working in particular regions. However, returns from contractors based in the North-West Region, which include some employees working in other regions, show that employment, including working proprietors, by such contractors fell by 11,000 between July 1973 and July 1974 from 141,000 to 130,000. In the same period the direct labour employed by public authorities in the North-West probably changed little from the 38,000 recorded in October 1973. No recent estimates are available either for employment in the North-West Region by firms based elsewhere or for self-employed operatives.