§ 23. Mr. John H. Osbornasked the Secretary of State for Employment, of the total number of persons in employment, how many are now employed in the public sector; and if he will show this as a percentage, comparing the position with 1970 and 1965, respectively, and indicating likely trends during the rest of the decade.
§ Mr. BoothThe numbers employed in the public sector in the United Kingdom at June 1974, 1970 and 1965 were 6,866,000, 6,476,000 and 5,969,000, representing 27.3, 26.2 and 23.7 per cent., respectively, of the total numbers in employment. The public sector figures for 1965, however, exclude the employees of the British Steel Corporation which was set up in 1967; in 1968 it had some 250,000 employees, or about 1 per cent. of total numbers in employment.
I regret that I cannot provide comparable estimates for future years.