§ Sir E. HUME-WILLIAMSasked the President of the Board of Trade how many firms in the United Kingdom carry on their business on a labour co-partner- 911W ship basis, and what is the aggregate capital represented by such firms; whether it is the practice of the Board of Trade to collect statistics as to the result of such labour co-partnership schemes in operation and to circulate such statistics amongst the representatives of industry; and, if not, will he explain why this course is not adopted?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDI have been asked to reply. At the present time profit-sharing or labour co-partnership is practised by 245 firms in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but I have no information as to the aggregate capital of such firms. Statistics relating to profit-sharing and labour co-partnership are collected by the Ministry of Labour and are published annually in the Ministry of Labour Gazette, which has a wide circulation among representatives of industry. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of the Gazette for June last, which contained an article summarising the statistics for 1924.