§ Mr. Edgeasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will publish in the Official Report the number of manufacturing concerns with fewer than 100 employees and with fewer than 50 employees in the United Kingdom for each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieThe following table relates to manufacturing units—that is, a factory or plant at a single site or address:
Manufacturing units with 11–50 employees Manufacturing units with 11–100 employees 1971 … 35,103 44,025 1972 … 36,631 45,942 1973 … 36,536 45,888 Units with 10 employees or less have been excluded from the table because the Business Statistics Office Register of Businesses, from which this material is drawn, is not reliable in the case of very small units: it is estimated, however, that there are about 50,000 such units.
Prior to 1971, information relating to size was not collected on a comparable basis. Information subsequent to 1973 is not yet available.