§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total number of firms in the construction industry added to his Department's statistical register in each of the last ten years; and how many of the firms removed from the register in each year had been trading for less than two years, less than ten years and more than 10 years, respectively.
§ Mr. ChannonThe number of firms in the construction industry added to the Department's statistical register in each of the last 10 years is as follows:
To extract information about the lengths of time firms had been on the Department's statistical register before they were removed from it would involve a disproportionate amount of time and effort, and even that information would not necessarily indicate the length of time firms had been trading.
1962 4,851 1963 3,611 1964 3,359 1965 4,043 1966 4,887 1967 4,342 1968 3,035 1969 3,270 1970 3,403 1971 3,868