HC Deb 20 March 1997 vol 292 c880W
Mr. Tony Banks

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will estimate the number of jobs dependent on(a) fox hunting, (d) deer hunting and (c) hare coursing. [21113]

Mr. Paice

The sectors involved are very small. For that reason we can make no reliable estimates of the number of jobs dependent on fox hunting, deer hunting and hare coursing. Government statistics do not promote such detailed information. However, the Department of the Environment is a member of the standing conference on countryside sports. A study produced for SCCS estimates around 60,000 full-time jobs are directly dependent on all countryside sports and a further 30,000 indirectly.