§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of the employment population of the United Kingdom was employed by Government, local government, nationalised industry and other public bodies in January 1955, January 1965 and January 1975, respectively.
§ Mr. John FraserThe percentages of the United Kingdom employed labour force in (i) Government, (ii) local authorities and (iii) public corporations and nationalised industries are available at mid-year in 1959, 1965 and 1974 were as follows:
1959 1965 1974 Government (including Her Majesty's Forces and the National Health Service) 9.2 7.1 8.4* Local authorities (including police and education services) 7.4 8.5 11.3* Public corporations and nationalised industries 8.3 8.0 7.7 Notes:
- 1. The asterisked percentages are provisional.
- 2. Comparable estimates for the United Kingdom prior to 1959 are not available.
- 3. The figures for 1959, 1965 and 1974 are not strictly comparable for a number of reasons, the most important being (1) the transfer of the Post Office from central government to the public corporation sector in 1961 and (2) the creation of the British Steel Corporation in 1967: these changes affected the allocation of 1.5 per cent. and 1.0 per cent. respectively of the total employed labour force at the time of transfer.