§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many firms in the private manufacturing sector employ less than 500 people; and if he will express the number of firms as a percentage of the total firms in private manufacturing.
§ Mr. RidleyIn 1963 there were 62,545 such enterprises amounting to some 97 per cent. of all enterprises in private manufacturing. This information has been derived from Table 13 of Part 132 157W of the Report on the Census of Production for 1963. Similar information for 1968 will become available in due course in the Report of the Census of Production for 1968.
§ Mr. Sillarsasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people are employed by the five largest private sector companies in the United Kingdom; and what percentage this figure represents of the total number employed in the private sector of the economy and what percentage of the total number employed in private sector manufacturing.
§ Mr. RidleyThe companies with the largest average numbers employed in the United Kingdom, in 1969 or a proximate financial year, were the General Electric Company, British Leyland Motor Corporation, Imperial Chemical Industries, Coutaulds and Unilever Ltd. The total for these five companies was 764,000, representing about 4½ per cent. of the total numbers employed in the private sector, or about 9 per cent. of those employed in private sector manufacturing.