§ Mr. MossTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many full-time jobs in agriculture have been lost, by county, in each of the past five years.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonInformation on the numbers of full-time jobs lost in agriculture over the last five years is not available in the form requested. The June agricultural census does record in England and Wales the numbers of full-time farmers, partners and directors, family workers, hired workers and salaried managers working on agricultural holdings. Similar information is available for Scotland and Northern Ireland, although the categories adopted for labour are somewhat different in these countries. The available information will take some time to extract and collate by county for the five years, 1982, to 1987, but I will reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.