§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the small business sectors contribution to jobs in the Scottish economy in general, and in manufacturing in particular.
§ Mr. GoldingThe precise information requested is not available from my Department's statistics. However some indication can be had from the Annual Censuses of Employment which provide information relating to individual work-places rather than to complete businesses. The census unit, which is the basic unit reporting information, is normally a complete individual address such as a shop, office or factory. The branches of multiple firms thus constitute separate units. In some cases there can be more than
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§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the number of redundancies notified as due to occur in Scotland in the year 1975, and in the period 1st January to 3Otb June 1976, in each employment sector is as follows:
one census unit for a single address. This happens where the firm supplies information for different groups of employees—for example, the monthly and weekly paid, on separate returns.
Analyses of these census units for addresses in Scotland show that, in June 1975, units with fewer than 11 employees accounted for 13 per cent, of all employees in employment; units with between 11 and 49 employees for about 23 per cent, and units with between 50 and 199 employees for a further 23 per cent. These figures exclude employees in agriculture and private domestic service. The corresponding percentages for manufacturing industries are 3, 12 and 21 respectively. This information has been specially compiled and the figures are provisional at this stage.