§ Angus RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how his Department calculates the number of people employed(a) in and (b) by defence and defence-related industries in the regions of the UK; what multiplier is used; and what the regional totals are. [32447]
§ Dr. MoonieI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 November 2001,Official Report, column 766W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Ann McKechin). We are currently reviewing our methodology on the estimation of employment figures dependent on UK defence expenditure and exports. An outline of the existing methodology was provided in Defence Statistics Bulletin No. 3. I am arranging for a copy of this publication to be placed in the Library of the House.
The latest available direct regional employment figures (which are subject to review) for the Ministry of Defence equipment contracts have been estimated to be:
Thousand 1998£99 United Kingdom 81 England 73 North-east 3 Yorkshire and Humberside 5 East midlands 3 Eastern 2 London and South-east 31 South-west 14 West midlands 5 North-west 11 Scotland 6 Wales 1 Northern Ireland 1 Source:
UK Defence Statistics 2000
"Direct" employment refers to that occurring directly from equipment contracts placed with UK contractors by MOD. It does not include employment, which is created in sub contractors, and others who supply the main contractor; this is referred to as "indirect" employment.
The minor differences (shown in the table) between "regions totals" and the "UK total" are due to rounding anomalies.