§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the number of persons engaged in agriculture, forestry, horticulture and fishing; and what proportion of these are self-employed.
§ Mr. BishopI regret that full information is not available. For agriculture, including horticulture, the June 1975 census gave a total workforce—full-time, part-time and seasonal/casual—of 536,461 in England and Wales of whom532W 39 per cent. were farmers, partners and directors.
My Ministry's estimate at December 1975 of the total regular and part-time workforce engaged in fishing in England and Wales was 12,463, of whom approximately 60 per cent. were self-employed.
As explained to my hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Mr. Hardy) on 2nd March 1976, there are no reliable figures for the private forestry sector: the Forestry Commission's industrial workforce in England and Wales at March 1976 was some 3,330.—[Vol. 906, c. 494.]