§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Employment what conveniently available figures he has for North Sea oil-related employment in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976; and what are the projected figures until 1990.
§ Mr. GoldingThe number of workers employed at 31st May 1973 in companies in Scotland wholly engaged in activities related to the offshore oil industry was estimated to be 5,100. The corresponding figures for 31st May in each year 1974, 1975 and 1976 were 13,000, 20,300 and 26,000 respectively. These estimates do not include workers engaged in offshore oil-related work in companies only partially engaged in such work nor those in the construction industry. There is also considerable North Sea oil-related employment in England, but similar information to that for Scotland is not available. However, it has been broadly estimated that there are at least 80,000 people employed directly or indirectly in the United Kingdom on North Sea oil-related work. Of these some 50,000–55,000 are in Scotland.
I regret that we do not have projected employment figures until 1990, but in May 1976 wholly engaged firms in Scotland expected that their employment would increase by 5,300 in the next few years.